Reddit.com cofounder Alexis Ohanian set to speak at UCLA about future of social media
Follow an online live-coverage of the event here.
By Serli Polatoglu
April 4, 2011 1:25 a.m.
The co-founder of popular social aggregate site Reddit.com will speak about his site and the future of social media tonight in Ackerman Grand Ballroom.
Reddit.com is a site where users post content about subjects such as news, politics and entertainment.
The Campus Events Commission is holding the event because of Reddit’s relevance to current pop culture, according to commissioner Charles Ma.
Reddit.com co-founder Alexis Ohanian started the site as a 22-year-old University of Virginia graduate in 2005. The Web page has since picked up steam as a social aggregate site whose popularity is driven by its users.
Self-proclaimed “redditors” post links, pictures and comments about various subjects on the site and have their submissions upvoted or downvoted. The more upvotes a post receives, the higher it moves on the site.
Ohanian will talk about the future of social media and how it relates to Reddit.com, said Daniel Soto, Campus Events Commission speakers director and a third-year geography and environmental studies student.
When Ohanian first partnered with his Reddit co-founder Steve Huffman, the two were developing the idea of ordering food from cellphones. He said the idea was a bit ahead of its time, and though that venture failed, startup backer Y Combinator decided to keep the two on board to develop a different idea. Thus, Reddit.com was born.
Ohanian said he hopes to inspire students in attendance and show that rejection doesn’t hinder success.
“Every startup founder deludes himself into thinking his idea will be a huge success. … They are all a little mentally broken and crazy. But, realistically, I never expected (Reddit’s success),” Ohanian said.
Though he is no longer a Reddit employee, he still plays an advisory role with the company and said that, as a user, the growth has been amazing to watch.
That the site is completely user-driven appeals to many users.
“It’s cool that the users deem what’s valuable, worthwhile and entertaining (by voting on submissions),” said Alex Pieros, a second-year communications studies student.
Pieros said he is an avid Reddit user and has known about the site for nearly two and a half years.
“It becomes addicting,” he said.
Posts about the zombie apocalypse and links that poke fun at pop culture are often featured on Reddit’s front page. However, the site balances these popular entertaining posts with threads about politics and world news, Pieros said. Redditors personalize their user experience, as they choose to explore “sub-reddits,” or pages of the website that focus on specific topics as diverse as “funny,” “Canada” and “atheism.”
“It’s a great time-waster,” said Asher King Abramson, a second-year psychology student.
Abramson said a major part of the site’s appeal has to do with the witty users themselves.
“Sometimes I wonder if (Reddit users) have a life outside the net, but they do have very witty, good points about politics ““ though often with a liberal bias,” Abramson said.
Redditors around the world often demonstrate feelings of camaraderie toward one another. When the earthquake and tsunami devastated Japan last month, one Reddit user by the name of “californiasquirrel” posted a comment saying how worried she was about her grandmother in Yokohama.
“She can’t move from her bed without help, she can’t go grocery shopping at all, and my uncle can’t easily reach her,” she wrote.
A fellow redditor who lived 10 minutes outside of Yokohama saw this post and contacted californiasquirrel, offering to take food and supplies to her grandmother.
The user, OtisDElevator, detailed the account of his trip to the unnamed grandmother’s house in a Reddit post, and said he felt like crying after he delivered the care package, experiencing one of the “best feelings” of his life.
Pieros said he understands that there is an “odd sense of community” among redditors. He added that he hopes Ohanian will touch upon this subject, and the value of Reddit as a social media outlet for the future, during the event.
