4 ms·

why does reddit get so much press coverage now? a whole article talking about their front page? or is there just a lack of real news to cover

seren 11y ago
Reddit is a YC company, so it is discussed frequently on HN.
- Someone1234 11y ago
  There's also significant user overlap (or refugees from there).
Phlarp 11y ago
It's possible this is just a submarine after a few months of negative press. I have to imagine they hired a serious PR firm after all the drama over Ellen Pao and random firings.
jkoebler 11y ago
Hey, I wrote this article. We cover the internet and internet culture—Reddit is a massive, massive website that has very real impacts on the media and on what the average internet user sees on a day to day basis. As a reddit user, I saw dozens of threads complaining about the front page algorithm, so I decided to look into it. I emailed Reddit and asked what the deal was, and their CEO wanted to talk about it. We write about Reddit maybe 2-3 times a month and this took me only a couple hours to write. Felt it was important. Reddit has major problems with its community and racism and sexism and the like, but it's still a hugely influential website so changes to how it works is important
- mahranch 11y ago
  > Reddit has major problems with its community and racism and sexism and the like Do they though? Reddit's getting 200 million unique views every single month. That's approaching youtube/facebook levels of traffic. Reddit isn't a small community anymore. It's a massive website that represents everyone from all walks of life. For example, you don't hear people claiming that facebook or youtube has a problem with "racism and sexism". Why is that the case, even though it does have a problem with those things? Because people expect it there due the sheer size of those sites. Well, reddit isn't some small community website any more. It's nearly the size of google/youtube and is about to overtake twitter in traffic. I think it's time we stop treating it like some small time website and start treating it like the behemoth it has become.
  - DasIch 11y ago
    Facebook does have a problem with racism, not just that but the Germany's minister of justice and Angela Merkel have recently confronted Facebook about it.
  - deong 11y ago
    Both Facebook and Google have terms of service that ban large classes of abuse that Reddit explicitly permits (or at least permitted until very recent changes). Facebook doesn't allow a "Coontown" group, and Youtube will take down a similarly themed video or channel. People on Facebook don't see content unless they're somehow connected with it, and Youtube comments, while garbage, are a tiny (or nonexistent) part of most people's interaction with the site. Reddit is different. The entire site is comments, and at least in some cases, you have organized groups targeting people who weren't even aware of their existence (e.g., the brigading that got fatpeoplehate banned). It's completely fair to say that Reddit faces community problems that go above what Facebook and Google face. Twitter's probably the much better analogy, but PR wise at least, even Twitter's problems are dwarfed by the public perception of Reddit.
    - mahranch 11y ago
      > Facebook doesn't allow a "Coontown" group, and Youtube will take down a similarly themed video or channel. As far as I know, neither does reddit. They banned those communities a few months ago.
      - deong 11y ago
        Reddit still allows far more leeway than either of the others, but that's why I said "until recently" anyway. Reddit's PR problem was mostly formed prior to that though. Reddit became a place a lot of people only heard about when a story about child porn, upskirt pics, leaked celebrity nude photos, revenge porn, and other socially unacceptable material would make the wider press. The fact that they've made some tiny strides away from that now doesn't immediately fix the PR issue.
  - on_ 11y ago
- billybilly1920 11y ago
  "massive website that has very real impacts on the media " Top stories as of now that have real impacts on the media: * This Lamborghini is hot * Funny Face book picture * My manager and I when the new intern showed up not wearing a bra * cat picture
  - deong 11y ago
    Unfortunately, they do have real impacts on the media. It's why there are 642 different Buzzfeed clones invading every aspect of your life and your local newspaper can't keep the lights on.
pwython 11y ago
Its the 11th most popular website in the US (according to Alexa) that many people rely on for information and entertainment. When you're that big and make a mistake, the backlash becomes the entertainment.
thornofmight 11y ago
It's also a Vice article.
mahranch 11y ago
> why does reddit get so much press coverage now? They're the 10th largest website in the U.S. I think the question should be; "Why does reddit see so little press coverage?"

seren 11y ago

Reddit is a YC company, so it is discussed frequently on HN.

Someone1234 11y ago
There's also significant user overlap (or refugees from there).

Phlarp 11y ago

It's possible this is just a submarine after a few months of negative press. I have to imagine they hired a serious PR firm after all the drama over Ellen Pao and random firings.

jkoebler 11y ago

Hey, I wrote this article. We cover the internet and internet culture—Reddit is a massive, massive website that has very real impacts on the media and on what the average internet user sees on a day to day basis. As a reddit user, I saw dozens of threads complaining about the front page algorithm, so I decided to look into it. I emailed Reddit and asked what the deal was, and their CEO wanted to talk about it. We write about Reddit maybe 2-3 times a month and this took me only a couple hours to write. Felt it was important. Reddit has major problems with its community and racism and sexism and the like, but it's still a hugely influential website so changes to how it works is important

mahranch 11y ago
> Reddit has major problems with its community and racism and sexism and the like Do they though? Reddit's getting 200 million unique views every single month. That's approaching youtube/facebook levels of traffic. Reddit isn't a small community anymore. It's a massive website that represents everyone from all walks of life. For example, you don't hear people claiming that facebook or youtube has a problem with "racism and sexism". Why is that the case, even though it does have a problem with those things? Because people expect it there due the sheer size of those sites. Well, reddit isn't some small community website any more. It's nearly the size of google/youtube and is about to overtake twitter in traffic. I think it's time we stop treating it like some small time website and start treating it like the behemoth it has become.
- DasIch 11y ago
  Facebook does have a problem with racism, not just that but the Germany's minister of justice and Angela Merkel have recently confronted Facebook about it.
- deong 11y ago
  Both Facebook and Google have terms of service that ban large classes of abuse that Reddit explicitly permits (or at least permitted until very recent changes). Facebook doesn't allow a "Coontown" group, and Youtube will take down a similarly themed video or channel. People on Facebook don't see content unless they're somehow connected with it, and Youtube comments, while garbage, are a tiny (or nonexistent) part of most people's interaction with the site. Reddit is different. The entire site is comments, and at least in some cases, you have organized groups targeting people who weren't even aware of their existence (e.g., the brigading that got fatpeoplehate banned). It's completely fair to say that Reddit faces community problems that go above what Facebook and Google face. Twitter's probably the much better analogy, but PR wise at least, even Twitter's problems are dwarfed by the public perception of Reddit.
  - mahranch 11y ago
    > Facebook doesn't allow a "Coontown" group, and Youtube will take down a similarly themed video or channel. As far as I know, neither does reddit. They banned those communities a few months ago.
    - deong 11y ago
      Reddit still allows far more leeway than either of the others, but that's why I said "until recently" anyway. Reddit's PR problem was mostly formed prior to that though. Reddit became a place a lot of people only heard about when a story about child porn, upskirt pics, leaked celebrity nude photos, revenge porn, and other socially unacceptable material would make the wider press. The fact that they've made some tiny strides away from that now doesn't immediately fix the PR issue.
- on_ 11y ago
billybilly1920 11y ago
"massive website that has very real impacts on the media " Top stories as of now that have real impacts on the media: * This Lamborghini is hot * Funny Face book picture * My manager and I when the new intern showed up not wearing a bra * cat picture
- deong 11y ago
  Unfortunately, they do have real impacts on the media. It's why there are 642 different Buzzfeed clones invading every aspect of your life and your local newspaper can't keep the lights on.

pwython 11y ago

Its the 11th most popular website in the US (according to Alexa) that many people rely on for information and entertainment. When you're that big and make a mistake, the backlash becomes the entertainment.

thornofmight 11y ago

It's also a Vice article.

mahranch 11y ago

> why does reddit get so much press coverage now? They're the 10th largest website in the U.S. I think the question should be; "Why does reddit see so little press coverage?"