Everyone has that spot in their home where, no matter how hard you try to keep tabs on things, they always end up in that location. For me, it’s under the coffee table, by the back left arm. I can’t explain why, or how, this happens, but whenever I can’t seem to find the left sandal, or my favorite hoodie, I always go back to that spot under the coffee table. It’s almost as if the center of the universe, or at least my personal one bedroom universe exists in my living room.
For those of you familiar with popular websites online, I posit that Reddit, the “front page of the internet,” is the online equivalent of that spot in your house where everything ends up.
Reddit was founded back in 2005 by Steve Huffman and Alexis Ohanian with the idea of creating a site that resembled the front page of a major newspaper, but rather than solely current events, the content of the site would be anything and everything trending on the internet. Per current statistics, Reddit boasts an online community of 330 million monthly active users who follow the site’s some 150,000 Subreddits.
Reddit was founded back in 2005 by Steve Huffman and Alexis Ohanian with the idea of creating a site that resembled the front page of a major newspaper, but rather than solely current events, the content of the site would be anything and everything trending on the internet. Per current statistics, Reddit boasts an online community of 330 million monthly active users who follow the site’s some 150,000 Subreddits.
A Subreddit is a condensed, more specific section of the site, dedicated to a certain topic or idea. Some Subreddits include “r/AskReddit,” “r/mildyinteresting,” and virtually any category you could possibly imagine, and at least several you wouldn’t dare admit to your friends about searching for.
All in all, if you haven’t used the site, you’re truly missing out because when you think about it, there’s so much information on the internet, and Reddit allows users to find what they need all in one location.
All in all, if you haven’t used the site, you’re truly missing out because when you think about it, there’s so much information on the internet, and Reddit allows users to find what they need all in one location.
In recent news, the front page of the internet is looking to raise somewhere between $150 million to $300 million to keep its virtual doors open to users, according to TechCrunch.
Per several sources, the upcoming Series D round of funding is reportedly being captained by Chinese tech behemoth Tencent (TCTZF) at a $2.7 billion pre-money valuation. In 2018, the site garnered significant investor attention when Reddit’s leadership team decided to sell cost per click ads in addition to users spending money to boost certain posts, cost per impressions, as well as video ads.
It would seem that Reddit is slowly but surely becoming a virtual periodical given its recent inclination to include near-print ads. Back in December 2018, Reddit announced that it had surpassed 1 billion video views per month, up nearly 40% from two months prior when the site launched its own video streaming platform.
Aside from being a site where parents try to stay relevant by sending their children dank memes and gifs, the site represents all that is both good and horrible with the internet. One could presumably spend years pouring through the depths of the various Subreddits on the site, getting lost in comments submitted by users and administrators.
The important fact to recognize here is that, as humans, we instinctively crave new information, no matter the subject matter, as a means of having more touch points to connect with those around us.
At a time where social media platforms are as trustworthy as parents telling their teenagers that Santa still exists, it’s hard out there for websites that have yet to break hearts with data breaches to remain above water.
Assuming Reddit’s forthcoming round of funding goes as planned, the $150 million from Tencent (TCTZF) will help the site sustain itself as they look to other investors for the cash necessary to keep the train moving.
For me, Reddit represents the last free space on the internet, where trolls and academics argue with button-mashing accuracy, and dank memes flow like water. It would be a shame for Reddit to disappear, or worse, become solely a means of generating income through obnoxious click-ads.
