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In 2005, if you were into societal networks focused connected links, you astir apt used Digg oregon Slashdot. However, 2 guys, Steve Huffman and Alexis Ohanian, caller graduates from the University of Virginia, wanted to make a hub wherever users could find, share, and sermon the internet's astir absorbing content. Little did they cognize wherever this thought would instrumentality them.
The origins of Reddit
After all, their conception was thing new. Still, aft Paul Graham, co-founder of Y Combinator, the startup accelerator and effect superior firm, had changeable down their archetypal thought -- a mobile food-ordering app -- they pitched what would go Reddit to Graham, and helium gave it his blessing.
Drawing inspiration from sites similar Delicious, a now-defunct societal bookmarking service, and Slashdot, Huffman and Ohanian envisioned Reddit arsenic a level that would harvester the champion aspects of both: a spot for sharing timely, ephemeral quality and fostering vibrant assemblage discussions of not conscionable technology, but immoderate taxable users cared about.
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Their guiding ngo was to physique "the beforehand leafage of the internet," a simple, user-driven tract wherever anyone could taxable content, and the community, not algorithms oregon editors, would determine what was astir important done voting and discussion. They deliberately prioritized idiosyncratic information and speech implicit flashy features oregon dense editorial control.
What acceptable Reddit isolated from its aboriginal rivals was its framework. Instead of 1 ample all-in-one interface, the tract borrowed the thought from pre-internet online networks, specified arsenic CompuServe, of smaller sub-networks devoted to a peculiar topic. These user-created communities, "subreddits," rapidly acceptable it isolated from different societal platforms. As Laurence Sangarde-Brown, co-founder of TechTree, wrote: "This plan allows users to delve into focused discussions, inquire questions, and speech ideas connected a standard unmatched by different platforms."
That attack was not enough, though, to kick-start Reddit. The founders had to "fake it until they made it." They seeded the tract with fake accounts to marque it look much active. Their efforts paid off, arsenic existent users soon flocked to the platform.
Another important aboriginal alteration was erstwhile Reddit merged with Aaron Swartz's Infogami and introduced commenting. This determination was captious for laying the groundwork for the site's interactive, community-driven experience.
Reddit's aboriginal rivals
Launched successful 2004, Digg was Reddit's astir nonstop rival successful the aboriginal years. Both platforms allowed users to taxable and ballot connected content, but Digg initially dominated successful popularity, peaking astatine 40 cardinal monthly users. Digg's upvote ("Digg") and downvote ("Bury") strategy would animate Reddit's voting mechanics.
In the aboriginal days, users of some platforms were obsessed with their rivalry. That contention ended abruptly successful 2010. First, Digg was progressive successful a ungraded erstwhile it was revealed that the alleged Digg Patriots were engaged successful a wide censorship run against liberals. The hole for this contented was Digg's arguable redesign, which led to a caller voting strategy that users felt removed their power. This displacement led to a wide idiosyncratic exodus, galore of whom migrated to Reddit. By 2012, Digg was sold astatine a knock-down price. Digg has precocious attempted to recreate itself. It's excessively aboriginal to accidental if thing volition travel from this move.
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At the aforesaid time, Slashdot was starting its long, dilatory decline. Reddit provided a much dynamic and interactive mode to stock and sermon news. In particular, galore users recovered that Slashdot, which inactive uses an old-school connection committee format, felt outdated and little engaging for caller and existing users. In addition, galore erstwhile users felt that Slashdot's managers were blameworthy of overzealous moderation, including predominant remark deletions and bans. So, arsenic Sumit Kumar, a integer selling expert, precocious suggested connected LinkedIn, "Slashdot inactive limps on today, but it is simply a ammunition of its erstwhile self." He's right.
Growth, controversy, and assemblage
Reddit's travel has been marked by explosive maturation and periodic controversy. Just 16 months aft launching, Reddit was acquired by Condé Nast for an estimated $10–20m. At the time, portion the acquisition brought caller resources, it besides brought challenges, arsenic Reddit struggled to support its chiseled individuality wrong a ample media company.
Then, successful 2008, Reddit introduced subreddits. This was the move, I believe, that acceptable Reddit apart. By making it casual for users to make focused communities astir everything from subject and exertion to memes and activism to porn and games, Reddit's popularity started to stroke up.
While aboriginal Reddit monthly progressive users (MAUs) information is hard to find, it appears that astatine the extremity of 2006, the site could boast lone 700,000 MAUs. However, with subreddits successful place, Reddit had jumped to 10 cardinal MAUs by 2010. As of January 2025, Reddit is estimated to person implicit 1.1 cardinal MAUs. Not bad, eh?
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This occurrence didn't travel easily, particularly successful the aboriginal days. As Reddit's popularity grew, its infrastructure struggled to support up. Frequent outages and dilatory load times frustrated aboriginal users and threatened the site's reputation. These reliability issues forced Reddit to put successful amended infrastructure and to optimize its codebase, including a pivotal codification rewrite from Common Lisp to Python for simplicity and performance. That's right. When Reddit started, it was written successful the archetypal AI language: Lisp. Now you know.
By 2007, Reddit's power began to grow beyond the internet. In a Greenpeace contention to sanction a humpback whale, Reddit users rallied down the quirky sanction "Mr. Splashy Pants." Their coordinated voting demonstrated the powerfulness of online communities to power real-world outcomes, starring Greenpeace to clasp the sanction and marking an aboriginal illustration of Reddit's corporate impact. At past report, Mr. Splashy Pants is live and well, swimming determination southbound of New Zealand.
Another boost to Reddit's maturation came erstwhile it introduced Ask Me Anything (AKA) forums. As the sanction suggests, these online forums are wherever mean users tin inquire well-known radical questions. The forum that enactment Reddit connected the representation was erstwhile President Barack Obama's AMA league appeared successful August 2012. It was a watershed moment. While the influx of users crashed the site's servers, it was inactive palmy capable to gully planetary media attraction and cement the AMA format arsenic a staple for celebrities, politicians, and nationalist figures.
However, it hasn't each been sunshine. Reddit has faced disapproval for hosting arguable contented and struggling with moderation. For example, Reddit had hosted hatred subreddits for astir a decade. Finally, successful 2015, Reddit began banning hate-based subreddits, specified arsenic FatPeopleHate. In 2017, the site started purging Nazi, achromatic supremacist, and different hatred groups.
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Over the years, Reddit has been a launchpad for viral memes, grassroots activism, and adjacent fiscal marketplace upheaval. The astir notable lawsuit was the GameStop abbreviated compression successful 2021, which had been orchestrated by r/WallStreetBets users. Today, Reddit groups are inactive influential successful the banal and cryptocurrency markets, but not astir arsenic overmuch arsenic they erstwhile were.
Reddit grows up
For the longest time, portion Reddit, the site, was wildly popular, it faced a cardinal problem: a deficiency of a concern model. After Huffman's instrumentality arsenic CEO successful 2015, the company started focusing connected profitability. To marque this happen, Reddit introduced advertising, premium memberships, and a large redesign successful 2018.
Steve Huffman, Reddit CEO.
In a caller Business Insider interview, Huffman explained: "Another large alteration for Reddit was we weren't moving arsenic a business. We were truly idealistic, and I deliberation successful galore ways the idealism has been precise good, but we were besides idealistic astir not being a business, which is not a large mode to tally a sustainable business." Besides, Huffman added: "Wrapped up successful immoderate of that idealism was also, like, not moving precise hard."
Still, Reddit depends connected that idealism to this precise day. Even now, Reddit doesn't wage the unpaid moderators who support the tract moving daily.
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On their backs, arsenic of March 2024, Reddit went public connected the New York Stock Exchange nether the ticker RDDT, with its banal surging by up to 70% connected its archetypal trading time and continuing to ascent successful the pursuing months.
As of May 2025, Reddit's valuation is $28bn, with reported revenues up 61% year-over-year. That said, the institution is not profitable adjacent now. But successful a banal marketplace that values maturation implicit profit, the contented hasn't wounded the concern immoderate much than it does OpenAI.
A level that shapes the net
Reddit's interaction is felt acold beyond its site. With implicit 52 cardinal regular progressive users and implicit 100,000 progressive communities, Reddit has go a superior root of news, entertainment, and advice. The site's caller tag enactment is: "The bosom of the internet." Maybe it is. Today, Reddit's power extends to popular culture, fiscal markets, and nationalist health, arsenic users often crook to the tract for real-time accusation and assemblage support.
However, I similar to accidental Reddit is surviving up to its classical tagline and is the internet's beforehand door. By Similarweb's count, Reddit is the ninth astir fashionable tract successful the world.
Looking guardant
As Reddit enters its 3rd decade, it faces caller challenges and opportunities. The level continues to grapple with moderation and information privacy, and the equilibrium betwixt idiosyncratic autonomy and concern imperatives.
Like astir each different business, Reddit has been adopting AI tools. For instance, Reddit has rolled retired precocious AI-driven moderation features to assistance assemblage moderators negociate contented much efficiently. These tools tin automatically observe and filter spam, hatred speech, and different prohibited content, reducing moderators' manual workload and improving the wide prime of discussion.
For users, successful December 2024, Reddit began beta investigating "Reddit Answers." This is an AI-powered hunt instrumentality that summarizes and curates assemblage discussions. This instrumentality is designed to assistance users find relevant, high-quality answers from crossed the level much efficiently. The institution is besides looking into adding a Reddit-specific hunt engine.
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At the aforesaid time, Reddit is seeking to nett straight from AI. Reddit present sells entree to its contented to OpenAI and Google.
So, wherever does Reddit spell from here? We'll see. Reddit's bequest is 1 of transformation: from a scrappy startup to a planetary hub for conversation, collaboration, and sometimes controversy. As it celebrates 20 years, Reddit remains a testament to however important online communities tin beryllium successful a satellite progressively filled with AI slop.
Still, Huffman believes Reddit's existent worth is coming. In a caller Reddit post, helium wrote: "Reddit works due to the fact that it's human. It's 1 of the fewer places online wherever existent radical stock existent opinions. That authenticity is what gives Reddit its value. If we suffer spot successful that, we suffer what makes Reddit…Reddit. Our absorption is, and ever volition be, connected keeping Reddit a trusted spot for quality conversation."
Huffman concluded: "The past 20 years person proven however almighty online communities tin beryllium -- and arsenic we look ahead, I'm adjacent much excited for what the adjacent 20 volition bring."
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