Caribou Reddit Alien

Reddit, for those of you who don’t know, is an online social news website with content determined by users as opposed to news editors. Like Digg before it, Reddit users can vote content up and down. They can even vote up comments and ads. Reddit has been around since 2005 and describes its primary audience as male, between the ages of 28 and 32. Although clearly it’s not completely void of female contributors (I’m a user, too.)

With an account, you can follow and comment on subreddits, which are really just conversations within Reddit that follow specific and often niche topics. For example, if you’re a big fan of redheads, you can follow the redhead or ginger subreddit (I’ll let you search for that on your own – it’s pretty raunchy, for the most part.)

Subreddits have been known to turn into micro-communities with a philanthropic twist. One of my favourite Reddit stories involves members of the Christianity subreddit, Atheist subreddit and Islam subreddit who, in 2010, came together to raise money for World Vision.

Reddit users also have an online reputation for spearheading some of the web’s more recent crowd-sourced projects like Stephen Colbert’s “March for Sanity” in 2010 (it was originally organized by Redditors.)

One of my favourite pieces of content currently on Reddit (and not likely to change much) is Reddit’s rules of engagement aptly titled “Reddiquette.” As an online community manager, I’m impressed with these rules of online etiquette that encourage users to, among other things, spell correctly, back up their content with evidence and not opinion, and respect their fellow community members when it comes to their comments. Too often, we brush off bad spelling, syntax, tone and manners in general when it comes to social media. It’s nice to see an outfit like Reddit, a website dedicated to fast news, upholding a sense of online honour.

Here are a few of my favourite rules: (because aren’t rules fun?)

“Don’t ask people to troll others on Reddit, in real life, or on other blogs/sites. We aren’t your personal army.”

“Don’t complain about a story being old. Reddit is about interesting stuff, not new stuff only.”

“Don’t make comments that lack content.”

“Do moderate based on quality, not opinion.”

“Do look for the original source of content.”

“Do use proper grammar and spelling. Intelligent discourse requires a standard system of communication.”

Redddit is worth a look. It doesn’t look like anyone has started a subreddit about gumboots yet and there’s always a first for everything. And while you’re at it, click on the icon at the bottom of this page, fourth to the right – the Reddit Alien – and begin your Reddit experience.

Happy Redditing!