Reddit has gone from an obscure link dump to one of the most powerful social media forces in the industry in the past few years. It has killed competitors like Digg and is on the heels of Facebook and Twitter in terms of user engagement. We thought we’d take some time to explore a few interesting facts about Reddit that you may not know, even if you’re an avid user.
1. The Reddit Alien Existed Before the Site Was Functional
Reddit’s iconic smiling little alien was actually created before the site even worked. It started as a drawing long ahead of the site’s completion, and though it doesn’t have much to do with the actual content, it’s become an instantly recognizable symbol throughout the internet. “In truth,” Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian said in his book, “I’d created these [sketches] months before we’d even figured out how the site would work. Priorities!”
2. Reddit Was Almost “Reditt”
It’s fairly common knowledge that “Reddit” is a condensed form of “Read It,” but a friend had to talk the founder out of spelling it “Reditt” which was one of the original ideas for the name. Neither makes a terribly large amount of sense, but at least visually, the final version is better. Other non-“read it” potential names included 360scope.com and obaloo.com. Yeesh.
3. Yahoo! Offended Reddit Owners During Acquisition Talks
Before being sold to Conde Nast, Reddit was in talks with both Google and Yahoo! in terms of a possible acquisition. The meeting with Google supposedly went well, but Yahoo! offended the two co-founders by saying that Reddit’s traffic was a “rounding error” next to their own. I can’t imagine that went over well, and the two rightly walked away. Now, Reddit is quickly becoming one of the most popular sites on the internet while Yahoo’s star seems to be fading.
4. Reddit is Growing Astronomically, But With a Catch
Here’s an impressive set of numbers for you:
In 2012, Reddit had 37 billion pageviews and 400 million unique visitors.
In 2013, Reddit had 56 billion pageviews 731 million unique visitors.
That’s a 51% increase in pageviews and an 83% increase in uniques in just one year. The only problem for those websites trying to get on Reddit is that a vast majority of the traffic is staying within Reddit itself through self-posts and endless Imgur links. Outgoing traffic from the site is actually down.
5. The Vast Majority of Redditors are Men
As one of the largest social media sites on the internet, Reddit isn’t exactly a beacon of diversity when it comes to its userbase. In truth, 84% of the site’s users are men. It can arguably make for a cold climate for women, who can either be harassed or the opposite, held up on a pedestal and worshipped when they do reveal themselves. The skew toward a male userbase does make it clear why two of the most popular subreddits are Reddit Gone Wild and Reddit Not Safe for Work (NSFW).
6. Redditors Spend a Crazy Amount of Time on the Site
Reddit users spend an average of 16 minutes and 10 seconds on the site. If that doesn’t sound like a lot, most sites are lucky if they get a minute or two at most. Five minutes is a fantastic marker, so 16? That’s just crazy. Reddit’s endless collection of sub-sections means that people are easily losing themselves in the site. As for who spends the most time on Reddit? That would be Canadians, according to the data. I’ll leave it to you to speculate as to why that’s the case.
7. Reddit Hosts the Largest Secret Santa Exchange in the World
Each year, over 300,000 Redditors come together for the largest Secret Santa gift exchange in the world. Users send gifts to one another, even if they live across the world and have never met. Gifts range from small trinkets to inside Reddit jokes to even bundles of cash. On rare occasions, even a celebrity will participate in the gift exchange, and someone will end up with a gift from a star. It’s rather fascinating to see a community so large organize itself every year for the exchange, and it’s only getting bigger as time goes on.
8. Before Reddit, Its Co-Founders Wanted to Make a Menu App
Before the collection of links was concieved, Reddit co-founders Alexis Ohanian and Steve Huffman wanted to make an app called MyMobileMenu, a takeout ordering app. Actually, that sounds kind of good to be honest, though I’m sure a zillion different versions of that exist by now. I think most of us are glad that they decided to focus on Reddit instead.
9. Reddit’s Entire Marketing Budget Was $500
Since the site’s creation in 2005, Reddit has supposedly spent only $500 marketing the site. Rather, it’s exploded through word of mouth alone, and the need for self-promotion has now evaporated completely. What was the $500 spent on? Why, making Reddit stickers of course (which are now sold as products, not promotional materials).
10. The Original Version of Reddit Didn’t Have Upvote/Downvote Arrows
Though the blue and orange arrows on Reddit for upvoting and downvoting content have become immortal over the years, they didn’t always exist. In fact, the first metric of rating content on the site were the terms “interesting” and “boring.” That was later simplified to “good” and “bad” arrows that we see today. In case you were wondering what to do with this post on the site, I’d click the “up” one.
[Photo: Pixsy.net]
