Reddit may be intimidating to higher ed administrators, but it certainly isn’t to prospective, accepted and enrolled college students, as well as young alumni. At its worst, it’s a hotbed for inflammatory, distasteful and hurtful comments made by users empowered by the platform’s foundation of anonymity. At its best, Reddit can be home to thoughtful and intelligent conversations, helping users solve complex problems or find emotional support. This type of open, anonymous, egalitarian community means Reddit’s benefits and pitfalls are particularly steep. The more a community up votes a post or comment, the more visible it becomes to other users. Posts on Reddit aren’t subjected to algorithms like many social platforms rather, comments and posts are curated by peer users through the use of up or down votes. Users can ask, answer and debate a wide variety of topics through focused communities called subreddits. If you’re new to the world of Reddit, here’s a crash course: Reddit is an open community and discussion forum. Those numbers make Reddit the sixth-most-trafficked website in the United States, according to Alexa, ranking directly behind Facebook and ahead of popular and well-known sites like Wikipedia, Netflix, Twitter and ESPN. There are currently more than 330 million monthly active users on Reddit, with more than 138,000 active communities and an average of 21 billion screen views per month. And to be clear, Reddit’s numbers are impressive. Since that post, I’ve found prospective students complaining about university websites, asking questions about the social atmosphere on campus, soliciting opinions about choosing between college options and everything in between.ĭespite my best efforts, higher ed administrators are still generally surprised at the size and scope of Reddit. Are you paying attention to Reddit yet? I’ve been beating the Reddit drum for most of 2019, ever since I discovered a post by an enrolled college student asking strangers on the internet for advice regarding on-campus mental health resources.
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