Reddit - the front page of the Internet

Reddit – the front page of the Internet

In the first day of this class, our professor asked us in what way we contribute with content on the Internet. As I was strategically sitting almost on the last row, I had plenty of time to wonder how I contribute on the Internet, and what contributing actually is. My classmates contributed in a lot of ways. Blogs, articles, Youtube-accounts, Instagram and Twitter. They were all part of what the Internet is all about. Sharing.

The last couple of years my friends has constantly been talking about this one website. A few years ago, it was 4chan and then 9gag, but they were both just phases of Internet history. I guess they still are active, but who uses it? My friends was talking about Reddit. But as a non-nerd, I didn't bother about it. Did the web really need another 4chan or 9gag with weird photos and inside jokes?

Every time my friends sent links to Reddit, it was just long articles or stories that would take forever to read. I didn't bother. But that was until I realized how I could get information on anything there. I only saw Reddit as just another website, posting the same things as you would see on 4chan and 9gag, and even on your Facebook feed eventually.

I actually started using Reddit mostly to see the goals of the recent football matches. Every time any of the major leagues in the world scores, a video will be posted on the “/soccer” subreddit. Trying to find goals on Youtube could be a pain in the ass, as they usually don't have the rights to the clips, and it often led me to watch some guy with a web-camera explaining the goal. It was terrible. My life was falling apart. But then, a hero arose. The answer to my problems. The lord and savior of my first world problems. It was called “r/soccer”.

A democratically rated system that makes the best voted goals and articles, or anything related to football appear high up on the page. The more votes, the higher up. And after two days it is gone. Well, you can find it again if you want to show the last week, month, year or all time highest rated posts, so let's not compare it to Snapchat.

Because I like football, I also have a favorite football team. I am what they call a “gooner”. This means I'm an Arsenal fan, the north London team that stole my heart in 2001. Fun-fact; Osama Bin Laden, who was the founder and leader of al-Qaeda who claimed responsibility for the 9/11 attacks that very same year, was also a Gooner, actually he was a season ticket holder at Highbury in the 90's. Where did I learn this? The subreddit “/gunners” of course.

The /gunners is actually the most popular football team subreddit, with around 45 000 “redditors” (registered users) subscribing. Compared to Manchester United who has 350 million fans in the world (3 times of what Arsenal has), but only 37 000 subscribers on /reddevils. I would assume that's because United fans do not care about football, they are stupid and they would not know how Internet works. That is the only reason I can truly understand why someone would like United also. But then again, Arsenal fans are said to be stubborn and subjective in their argumentations.

So what I was trying to say, before I got lost explaining how wonderful Arsenal and /gunners is, I would like to explain what subreddits are. If you go to reddit.com and see on the front page what has been most up-voted lately, there will be different subreddits in the under the link. That is a way of placing the content of what you are posting, or a way to find the content that suits your “need”. If you are in a mood for some cute dogs and cats you will go to r/aww. The title is self explaining. If you want to watch the goals from the latest gameweek in football, you go to (sadly, because reddit is American) r/soccer. But if you really want to just make time pass by, or you are an easily amazed stoner with intention to literally blow your mind, I would ask you to go to reddit.com/r/showerthoughts. Although I do not go there very often, it is one of the more exciting content every posted on the Internet, at least when you see how simple it all is.

What is also exciting about Reddit it that is is not just bullshit and funny things, there is a reason why they call it “the front page of internet”. As r/news (mostly American) and r/worldnews (non-American), r/TIL (today I learned) and r/personalfinance are constantly upvoted, it makes the Reddit experience more useful. And as the world's biggest forum with 208 million unique visitors in October from 209 different nations, there will be a subreddit for almost everyone, even almost every country and major cities has their own. You can for example try www.reddit.com/r/prague. There you can find tips, discussions and questions regarding the city, often used by tourists and visitors.

In the last part of this blog post, I would like to give you guys some tips of how to use and understand Reddit. They often seem to use abbreviations to classify the content or subreddit.

AMA: ask me anything. Sometimes, well known or exceptionally interesting people agree to an internet “meeting” where they answer questions from redditors (users). 

TIL: Today I learned. Also a subreddit, often explaining scientific or historical things.

NSFW: Not safe for work. Written in red letters. Do not open these articles, videos or pictures when there are people around you. It can be very disturbing, or of a sexual content. Not cool if your boss or teacher is behind you.

So I really hope that people will have an open mind when trying reddit, and I hope you will be satisfied. Reddit is literally the best of what the Internet has to offer every day.