The social platform is one of the few remaining places safe from capitalism’s demands to market yourself as popular, attractive or palatable
I still remember the first time I got told to use Reddit in 2016. As the UK editor of Broadly, my boss over in the US was determined to seed articles on the so-called “front page of the internet”, a social platform that could theoretically yield viral results for any journalist if your content landed on the right sub (subreddit; or section) of the site.
Anybody can post on Reddit, which is currently celebrating its 20th year of existence. With more than a hundred million active daily users and a judicious amount of elbow grease, you might be able to engineer yourself.
Alas, it didn’t happen – our posts barely attracted any eyeballs. Something about the discussion site is anathema to shameless self-promotion – it’s even actively hostile to outsiders looking to game its labyrinthine system of upvotes, downvotes and leaderboard awards. But my boss’s failed attempt to hack Reddit was the start of my respect for the platform – and the beginning of my journey as an active user. Prior to that, I’d only ever thought of it as a slightly retro-looking web forum – the kind I remembered from my teenage days on the internet, albeit one that seemed to be mainly populated by male keyboard warriors.
Flashier platforms like Instagram and TikTok inject bite-sized content straight to the prefrontal cortex. By contrast, Reddit’s layout is utilitarian and un-lovely. Almost everyone hides behind an anonymous username. While you can post images and GIFs, it is predominantly a text-only platform – and boy, there is a lot of text. In the years since I signed up, I’ve probably read dozens of comments that stray into dissertation-length territory.
Currently celebrating its 20th year of existence, Reddit has more than a hundred million active daily users (Photo: Serene Lee/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)
But that is precisely the joy of what I’ve come to regard as the last truly anonymous social space on the internet – and is one of the few remaining platforms safe from capitalism’s onerous demands to market yourself as popular, attractive or palatable for the online gaze. In a world of hyper-polished content creators screaming at you to like, follow and subscribe, Reddit is decidedly un-glamorous. Freed from the need to appeal to the algorithm or establish a personal brand, people can actually be themselves.
That’s what fuels the brutal honesty behind notorious confessional subreddits like Am I the Asshole or Off My Chest; it’s also what makes for the most compelling beauty and skincare recommendations on subs like Makeup Addiction. Want holiday advice from normal people, not sponcon recs from luxe travel bloggers? I’ve planned everything from afternoon pinxtos crawls in San Sebastian to late-night eats in Shanghai based on tips from local Redditors. Want to find the best makeup? Google “best mascara Reddit” and crowdsource your find from real customers who hold nothing back in their reviews.
As a journalist, I’ve long regarded Reddit as a relatively accurate barometer for what actual social media users think. On X and Instagram, people are incentivised to have to come up with the most extreme stance on an issue – outrage travels further, after all.
On Reddit, where comments are confined to individual subs, there’s little impetus to come up with the hottest or most on-trend take. Take the recent uproar about Sabrina Carpenter’s new album cover, which features the pop singer getting her hair pulled while on her knees. While posts on X might have you believe this is the worst thing that has happened to feminism, the response on Reddit were refreshingly balanced and clear-eyed about the fact that Carpenter clearly intends to generate headlines (as well as accurately pointing out that it bears a close resemblance to the trashy Animal Magnetism album cover by The Scorpions – and not in a good way).
The site isn’t perfect, of course – no platform that size is. Anonymity can unleash a dark side in users: I watched in dismay as a sub for my favourite television show attracted a deluge of sexist commentators when its latest season dared to feature two female leads. (Thanks, True Detective fans, for confirming my worst fears about male TV nerds.)
Racist and misogynist content, as well as looney conspiracy theories, continue to thrive in certain toxic corners of the site – although Reddit does a passable job at quarantining those subs by making it impossible for users to stumble across them and stopping them from generating revenue. At least it’s trying to do something, unlike X or even YouTube, which has recently relaxed its rules regarding misinformation and offensive speech.
A site that allows people to be anonymous and honest – and one that doesn’t require you to upload photos of your face to cater to an all-seeing algorithm? That’s much more rare.