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Reddit’s approach to social media is unique, unlike other competing platforms. The platform’s unique features have made me a regular user since I joined the platform in 2018. Here are the various features available on Reddit that keep me coming back daily.
1Open and Anonymous Discussions
This approach makes the platform fun to use because there’s no filtering. People are as open as possible without fear of public shaming, a common theme on other social media platforms. Because of this, I enjoy hanging out on Reddit.
Despite being a lurker, I appreciate the safe environment Reddit has created for people to share different thoughts and ideas. This is also probably why, if you’re looking for advice on something or need candid reviews about a product or service, Reddit is the best place to go.
2Supportive, Diverse Communities
There are hundreds if not thousands of communities on Reddit, organized into subreddits (If you’re new to the platform, ourbeginner’s guide to Redditis an excellent place to start). These communities are centered around different topics.
It can be a broad topic like travel, something more specific like learning a certain skill. There are also subreddits centered around a particular product or service (like an iPhone or a video game), or even something niche like fit meals for vegans. Some subreddits have very specific topics, like sharing pictures of TVs that are mounted way too high (that’sr/TVTooHighif you want to check it out).
In short, if you can think of it, there’s probably a subreddit for it. The diverse communities on the platform mean that I can easily find a community of people who share the same interests as me. This approach to organizing the platform around communities is one of its best features.
In fact, I rarely scroll through my Reddit home page. Immediately after logging in, I jump straight into specific communities I love following daily. It also helps that people are supportive of others on the platform and are willing to help or share feedback (if you ask for it), as long as you follow a community’s guidelines.
3The Karma and Award System
Reddit’s “karma” systemis the core of what makes the platform truly stand out to me. You can think of karma as digital points that you get for positively engaging with other users on the platform. Karma is determined by Reddit’s upvote and downvote system, where users can upvote (like) or downvote (dislike) a post or comment.
As such, more karma means a user is more credible and has given more value to the community. Users can also reward other users with different awards if they want to show more appreciation than just an upvote.
Having negative karma has repercussions. For instance, it can limit your participation in certain subreddits because of the so-called troll filters (where a subreddit automatically removes posts or comments from accounts with negative karma).
This system makes Reddit a conducive environment for discussions, as it ensures mindfulness while posting content or engaging with other users on the platform.
4Strict Moderation and Community Guidelines
Every subreddit has rules that everyone in the community must adhere to, in addition to the platform’s universal rules. All subreddits have moderators that oversee engagement in a community and ensure that all users adhere to the set guidelines.
Reddit provides moderators with all the tools and guidelines they need to oversee a subreddit. For instance, a moderator can remove content that has broken a community’s rules and, for repeated offenses, ban a user either for a custom period or permanently. These two are just the tip of the iceberg. There are othertasks a Reddit moderator does.
Naturally, moderating a huge subreddit with thousands or millions of users can be problematic and requires a lot of people to share the burden. Reddit’s upvote and downvote system also comes in handy for crowdsourcing moderation. Reddit uses the system to filter content and show what other users have deemed valuable in real-time.
With this, I can see only the most helpful content when viewing posts or comments on the platform. The same applies to responses to comments, which saves alot of time in cases where there’s a giant stack of replies on top of other replies.
5Reddit’s Powerful Search Functionality
Searching for content on specific topics on Reddit is extremely easy. The platform’s powerful search functionality allows me to easily find relevant discussions about a topic I’m interested in. With the karma system, only high-quality, relevant discussions are displayed, which saves me from sifting through various posts to find what I’m looking for.
To harness the power of its search feature, check out our guide onhow to search Reddit the right way. Although unrelated, it also helps that Reddit performs well in Google Search, giving you options to select different posts from different dates when you search for a specific phrase.
6It Has Fewer Ads Relative to Other Platforms
Ads have been appearing more frequently across social media platforms and Reddit isn’t an exception. However, compared to other platforms, Reddit has fewer ads and is more conducive to use.
To ascertain this, I did a little experiment, counting the top 20 posts on the home page across Instagram, X, and Reddit to determine how many were ads. On Reddit, I only encountered two ads; on X, three, and on Instagram, I saw six.
You can remove ads by paying forReddit Premiumif you like. Still, since I’m not one to pay for social media, I appreciate the platform’s decision not to plaster ads everywhere to force everyone to pay.
7A Customizable Interface
On Reddit, I can customize the interface in two ways. I can see content on the mobile app and the web using the newer card layout or the older compact classic layout. I can also choose whether to display thumbnails for posts with media attached.
I prefer the classic view for its non-distracting interface, with or without thumbnails. On the web, Reddit also offers an additional option to view the platform using the old interface that early versions used. These customization options make Reddit fun to use, regardless of your preferences.
As someone who uses social media sparingly, I find that Reddit is my favorite platform because of all these features. It’s not perfect, but it’s much better than other platforms.
