For my final project I created a podcast explaining what the website Reddit is. Reddit is a forum on the Internet that is one of the most visited websites recently. It is pretty much a gate way to everything interesting happening in the world. It’s similar to reading a newspaper, but unlike the paper counter part, Reddit is timely, interactive, personalized, participatory, absorbing and good. It works by people submitting links of blog posts, images and videos. Other users vote the links up or down. Its a simple idea that makes Reddit the list of the best stuff that people are reading right now. The contraction of Reddit is read it. If you read Reddit enough you’ll be saying that to everyone who tries to show you anything.
Another thing about Reddit is that there are no editors. But you know that the posts you are reading will be good because thousands of other users already voted that it is something to see. Another way to explain it is that Google is where you go to search for things and Reddit is where you go to see the things people have already found. Its good to know that Reddit is not one list of things. It is diverse and contains subreddits. Which are branches of the website dedicated to topics of interest such as : programming, funny, aww, sports, world news, and even subreddits for your city, region, state, country, school, organization, music, movies, gaming, and books. If you can’t find what you are looking for you can create your own subreddit with a press of a button. Each subreddit works like the main site.
The sorting process is difficult to explain. A good analogy is that the links people post are like balloons. When people vote it up, you add helium so it rises to the top of the list. When people vote it down, you suck out helium so it sinks down to the bottom of the list. Over time Reddit adds weight to these balloons so new balloons can be seen by other people.
Since Reddit covers all of humanity’s endeavors. Reddit can get weird. But only because humans are weird and humans are what make up Reddit. Reddit changes to suit your best interest as when you join subreddits you like and leave subreddits you dislike, the main page picks out the best links from your subreddits and show you.
In that case, Reddit is a lot like life. It is what you make it.
The links are only the tip of the ice burg. People have discussions that is sometimes more interesting than the links themselves. It is the true heart of Reddit. Reddit encourages back and forth discussions that is not seen in most forums. Each post can have a sub post and has the voting method of up and down as well. Some subreddits are just discussions such as : changemyview, eli5 (Explain it to me like I am 5), ask a scientist.
Users have the choice to be anonymous. This makes Reddit more interesting as people are more confident over the computer. Be warned, not everyone’s private thoughts are beautiful. They sometimes make you feel very uncomfortable to read. But Reddit only exists because the majority of the people are good. So most of the stuff you see are good.
Being anonymous is optional so presidents, actors, and musicians use Reddit for promotional reasons and answer questions. Reddit has its own culture with its own history. It has affects the real physical world with things like meeting up in person, raising money for charity, defending the internet, helping a family be with their sick child, holding the world’s largest secret santa, and sending school supplies to schools in need.
With it’s rapid fire democracy and shockingly quick reactions it makes you seem like the citizen of the Internet than your own country sometimes.
https://soundcloud.com/youngheezy44/creative-writing-project
Final Project Link. Click here to listen !
P.S. Reddit in latin is render which is “to submit for consideration or approval”
Intro. to Multimedia Comp SP14 