5 ms·

Study: Reddit used by 6% of adult Internet users

56 points by grizzy 13y ago

r-s 13y ago
I know its easy to hate on Reddit, but there is certainly some good content on a few of the smaller subreddits. I suspect that the majority of people in this 6% are only going to the front page and a few of the large sections.
- minimaxir 13y ago
  The problem is that Reddit encourages low-quality content (/r/funny, /r/AdviceAnimals) because it generates more engagement (the picture bias). And as with many social networks, discovery is nonexistent.
  - psbp 13y ago
    Most of the smaller subreddits are dead until they hit a critical mass where it just becomes a flavored microcosm of the front page. Strict moderation helps, but its hard to distinguish a community that is necessarily part of a much larger community.
txttran 13y ago
reminds me of http://www.paulgraham.com/submarine.html http://www.paulgraham.com/submarine.html
- thorum 13y ago
  I had the same thought, but I don't believe Pew run surveys at the request of PR companies.
julianpye 13y ago
'of US American adults on Internet' I can believe and is kind of established by the article. Certainly not global.
- colmvp 13y ago
  Yeah that's a pretty important detail that's not included in the HN headline.
- kingkool68 13y ago
  Original source of the study http://pewinternet.org/Reports/2013/reddit.aspx http://pewinternet.org/Reports/2013/reddit.aspx
marrusl 13y ago
I am the 94%.
Kequc 13y ago
And that's of the population smart enough to use the internet... think about that the next time you are reading some of the stuff people write there.
dfc 13y ago
Can any HN/reddit folks recommend some interesting and useful subreddits? Whenever I stumble across a link to reddit I am not impressed with the level discussions. I have tried a number of different subreddits across a wide range (this is a wide net: anything from Call of Duty to Woodworking to Security) of topics and I usually find inane chatter or comments with nothing more than a link to the latest animated gif of a duck expressing gratitude. Where are the gems I am missing?
- hornd 13y ago
  What you said is sadly true for many subreddits. I can offer up /r/askhistorians as a counter-example though: a very well moderated subreddit with excellent historical discussions.
  - Cowen 13y ago
    /r/askhistorians and /r/askscience are some of my favorite subreddits if only for the way that they emphasize level-headed discussion instead of just memes and overly-polarizing comments. Just yesterday, /r/askhistorians had a question about Mother Theresa and it was one of the most level-headed discussions of her and her legacy I've ever seen. Especially since her death she's been almost the definition of a polarizing figure: people see her as either a saint or a sadist. They rarely acknowledge any middle ground. Also, the hottest threads on those subreddits are almost always fresh things that you've never thought of before and it's very interesting to hear the answer from someone who studies the field in-depth (and provides sources!)
- cupcake-unicorn 13y ago
  I second that. You just can't get the same quality level of comments that you can at HN, and I'm often shocked and horrified at what's going on there...Not to mention the whole /r/creepshots thing. I feel like it used to be a much higher standard, but is quickly becoming the new 4chan...
  - adriand 13y ago
    > I feel like it used to be a much higher standard, but is quickly becoming the new 4chan... I joined Reddit seven years ago (http://www.reddit.com/user/adrian/ http://www.reddit.com/user/adrian/) and I started finding it stupid and annoying approximately five years ago. Until this story got posted I can't even remember the last time I bothered logging in. It's terrible.
seivan 13y ago
I love the puns :)
danso 13y ago
I'm kind of surprised the number is that high, actually, and I've been an active member for 3 years. Outside of my tech/media circle, I know almost no one who uses Reddit. My local subreddit, r/nyc, could potentially be a good community board except that it's badly managed, though most of the local news sites skim content from it.
epa 13y ago
I got on reddit around 2007, left in about 2011. The quality of discussion has fallen so badly that the site is unusable for comments. Before, it was irregular to see a sentance with less than 5 words, now, these quick comments rule the top karma ladders. It is interesting to see how a community that is small, gains popularity over time and quality degrades. User generated media especially seems to normalize to a generic trend. Look at Digg, the same thing happened, and users went over to reddit. This is actually one of my fears about hacker news, as currently the discussion is very intelligent and useful.
- obstacle1 13y ago
  There are some decent subs still, and they're universally ones with a low subscriber count. I'd bet that the vast majority of these "6% of US adults" stick to default subs and the front page, which are as you describe.
- halo 13y ago
  I'd argue HN has seriously degraded over the last year or so, with masses on articles containing low-quality shallow content, including endless stories about the NSA and Bitcoin, burying any interesting in-depth content. This has come to a head over the past few weeks where I'm finding the site nearly unreadable. I'm not really sure where to go to find high quality content anymore.
raymondduke 13y ago
The thing I don't like about Reddit and HN is that it is full of dudes. These types of sites are the 21st century equivalent of the man cave.
- raymondduke 13y ago
  Downvote me all you want, it doesn't make it any less true.

56 points by grizzy 13y ago

r-s 13y ago

I know its easy to hate on Reddit, but there is certainly some good content on a few of the smaller subreddits. I suspect that the majority of people in this 6% are only going to the front page and a few of the large sections.

minimaxir 13y ago
The problem is that Reddit encourages low-quality content (/r/funny, /r/AdviceAnimals) because it generates more engagement (the picture bias). And as with many social networks, discovery is nonexistent.
- psbp 13y ago
  Most of the smaller subreddits are dead until they hit a critical mass where it just becomes a flavored microcosm of the front page. Strict moderation helps, but its hard to distinguish a community that is necessarily part of a much larger community.

txttran 13y ago

reminds me of http://www.paulgraham.com/submarine.html http://www.paulgraham.com/submarine.html

thorum 13y ago
I had the same thought, but I don't believe Pew run surveys at the request of PR companies.

julianpye 13y ago

'of US American adults on Internet' I can believe and is kind of established by the article. Certainly not global.

colmvp 13y ago
Yeah that's a pretty important detail that's not included in the HN headline.
kingkool68 13y ago
Original source of the study http://pewinternet.org/Reports/2013/reddit.aspx http://pewinternet.org/Reports/2013/reddit.aspx

marrusl 13y ago

I am the 94%.

Kequc 13y ago

And that's of the population smart enough to use the internet... think about that the next time you are reading some of the stuff people write there.

dfc 13y ago

Can any HN/reddit folks recommend some interesting and useful subreddits? Whenever I stumble across a link to reddit I am not impressed with the level discussions. I have tried a number of different subreddits across a wide range (this is a wide net: anything from Call of Duty to Woodworking to Security) of topics and I usually find inane chatter or comments with nothing more than a link to the latest animated gif of a duck expressing gratitude. Where are the gems I am missing?

hornd 13y ago
What you said is sadly true for many subreddits. I can offer up /r/askhistorians as a counter-example though: a very well moderated subreddit with excellent historical discussions.
- Cowen 13y ago
  /r/askhistorians and /r/askscience are some of my favorite subreddits if only for the way that they emphasize level-headed discussion instead of just memes and overly-polarizing comments. Just yesterday, /r/askhistorians had a question about Mother Theresa and it was one of the most level-headed discussions of her and her legacy I've ever seen. Especially since her death she's been almost the definition of a polarizing figure: people see her as either a saint or a sadist. They rarely acknowledge any middle ground. Also, the hottest threads on those subreddits are almost always fresh things that you've never thought of before and it's very interesting to hear the answer from someone who studies the field in-depth (and provides sources!)
cupcake-unicorn 13y ago
I second that. You just can't get the same quality level of comments that you can at HN, and I'm often shocked and horrified at what's going on there...Not to mention the whole /r/creepshots thing. I feel like it used to be a much higher standard, but is quickly becoming the new 4chan...
- adriand 13y ago
  > I feel like it used to be a much higher standard, but is quickly becoming the new 4chan... I joined Reddit seven years ago (http://www.reddit.com/user/adrian/ http://www.reddit.com/user/adrian/) and I started finding it stupid and annoying approximately five years ago. Until this story got posted I can't even remember the last time I bothered logging in. It's terrible.

seivan 13y ago

I love the puns :)

danso 13y ago

I'm kind of surprised the number is that high, actually, and I've been an active member for 3 years. Outside of my tech/media circle, I know almost no one who uses Reddit. My local subreddit, r/nyc, could potentially be a good community board except that it's badly managed, though most of the local news sites skim content from it.

epa 13y ago

I got on reddit around 2007, left in about 2011. The quality of discussion has fallen so badly that the site is unusable for comments. Before, it was irregular to see a sentance with less than 5 words, now, these quick comments rule the top karma ladders. It is interesting to see how a community that is small, gains popularity over time and quality degrades. User generated media especially seems to normalize to a generic trend. Look at Digg, the same thing happened, and users went over to reddit. This is actually one of my fears about hacker news, as currently the discussion is very intelligent and useful.

obstacle1 13y ago
There are some decent subs still, and they're universally ones with a low subscriber count. I'd bet that the vast majority of these "6% of US adults" stick to default subs and the front page, which are as you describe.
halo 13y ago
I'd argue HN has seriously degraded over the last year or so, with masses on articles containing low-quality shallow content, including endless stories about the NSA and Bitcoin, burying any interesting in-depth content. This has come to a head over the past few weeks where I'm finding the site nearly unreadable. I'm not really sure where to go to find high quality content anymore.

raymondduke 13y ago

The thing I don't like about Reddit and HN is that it is full of dudes. These types of sites are the 21st century equivalent of the man cave.

raymondduke 13y ago
Downvote me all you want, it doesn't make it any less true.