Reddit.com Guide: Understanding Subreddits

This is from the Honor Society published book called "The Beginner's Guide to Success on Reddit" by Mike Moradian. To learn more about the book or to purchase a copy, click here.

Understanding Subreddits

The first Reddit lingo term we’re going to introduce to you in this e-book is what’s known as a subreddit. It’s these kind of unique terms and concepts that can make Reddit so overwhelming if you sign on with no background information.

Therefore, let’s start from the beginning.

To use Reddit, you will need to sign up for an account through a quick and self-explanatory process. You will make a username, profile, password, and so forth. When you are done with this process, Reddit will prompt you to add some subreddits to your account.

What is a Subreddit?

As subreddit is an individual message board devoted to one particular topic. They are represented by the letter “r” with a dash following it. For example, there is a thread called r/news and r/showerthoughts. Each subreddit is hosted by a moderator. That moderator gets to establish its own rules for what content can be shared, what content can’t be shared, what can be commented, and so forth. If you do not like the rules associated with a subreddit, you can use the search feature to find another subreddit that is more appealing to your communication style.

To find subreddits that interest you, simply enter a topic into the search box that is located in the upper right-hand corner of the homepage. If you can think it up, chances are, there’s a subreddit for it. From Game of Thrones fan theories, to information the government is not telling us, someone, somewhere, has made a subreddit for it.

Once you search this topic, you’ll be taken to a page with a list of suggested subreddits associated with that topic. If you see one that catches your eye, you can click on the green “subscribe” button. This ensures you will be notified when contributions or changes to the subreddit occur.

When you want to return to the home page from a subreddit, you click on the little alien figure in the top left. However, your home page will now display posts from that subreddit. It’s similar to the layout of Tweetdeck – a feature that enables social media marketers to view Twitter feeds from multiple accounts.

As you add more subreddits, your home page will expand and grow in depth, displaying all of the subreddits to which you are subscribed. Additionally, as you subscribe to these subreddits, you will see them listed at the top of your Reddit homepage for easy organization. If you want to dive into one particular subreddit, you can click on its name at the top of that page to open it up. When you go back into the subreddit, posts will be arranged according to how many up votes they have received (we will look at this in the next chapter). However, Reddit will rank more recently contributed posts at the top in order to give them a chance to be seen and therefore voted on.

By providing new posts with exposure, it gives Redditors a chance to have their posts blow up. Like any social media site, users want to know their content has the ability to go far and wide, influencing people and changing opinions. It’s every Redditor’s dream come true to have one of their subreddit posts “blow up” and receive serious voting traction.

The Front Page

Reddit has its own home page for all worldwide users separate from your subreddits. The home page consists of content that has been submitted to the most popular subreddits on the site, like pictures, technology, world news, music, gaming, and so forth. New users are automatically subscribed to these subreddits to help them get a feel for the content available to them today. By perusing these massive threads, you can learn more about subreddits that are niched and catered to your liking.

When subreddits gain enough subscribers, it can become part of the default home page for all of Reddit, exponentially increasing its traffic. Subreddits that recently joined the home page include r/atheism and r/minecraft.

If there is content on your home page that you no longer wish to see, you can simply unsubscribe from the subreddit to clean up the appearance. Click on the red button at the top right corner of that community.

What Are Multireddits?

Multireddits are customizable groupings of subreddits per your choosing. This enables you to navigate the communities of your choosing without having to look at the front page every time. These groupings will appear on the expandable sidebar within your Reddit. They can be created by selecting the “create” button and then entering the subreddits of your choosing. You can even get a peek at other public multireddits, and if you like what you see, create a copy of their curation for your own sidebar.

By mastering the art of multireddits, you can more efficiently gather the information you seek every day when you sign onto the platform.

For more tips on how to succeed on Reddit, read posts from our published book below: 
Intro: HonorSociety.org Reddit Review: Introduction to Success on Reddit
#1: The History of Reddit
#2: Understanding Subreddits
#3: Voting
#4: Posting Content
#5: Lingo & Formatting Norms
#6: Who is Not Welcome on Reddit?
#7: Reddiquette
#8: 5 Reasons to Join Reddit Today
#9: The Future of Reddit