A Starters Guide to Using Reddit

New users often find the site overwhelming because of the innumerable text links and conversation threads trending currently, and they may or may not be able to identify with popular contexts instantly, but then it is only a matter of time before they are drawn to its specialties. Here are a few do's and don'ts aimed at novices so that they enjoy the content and interactions on the site without getting into any trouble.

Account Creation
Registering with Reddit is mandatory to submit links and post comments on existing threads. However, guest users can simply explore the outbound links that are popular at any given time of the day. It is easy to create an account, preferably with an Email ID, however note that a user name once created cannot be edited later. Although a new account can be created, it is not possible to inherit contents and karma from the older account.

Submit a Reddit
The next step to becoming a part of Reddit is to submit a link to a content of one’s choice. This step again is an easy one for all it requires is an appropriate title (Reddit even offers title suggestions) and a URL or link to the corresponding website.

Reddits are usually posted either right at the main site reddit.com or to an appropriate section of the site known as a subreddit. Popular subreddits are automatically displayed on the screen. Posts may take a while to surface on the front page, but placing the Reddit under a relevant subreddit has a better chance of the link being noticed than when placed on the main site. Use a free image hosting service to share images on Reddit, Imgur is quite popular with this site.

Apart from link submissions, members can also submit text content in the form of self-posts.

Needle in a Haystack?
Armed with the basics of registration and link submissions, let’s move on to note a few factors that help get the Reddit noticed by other users. The main aim here is to garner as much support as possible, soliciting comments and voteups so that the Reddit remains in focus just a little longer.

Comments, VoteUps, VoteDowns and Karma are the main aspects that govern the popularity of a given post. Both positive and negative comments are welcome and are not taken off the records unless legally required. VoteUps and VoteDowns are symbolic of thumbs up and down, determining the popularity score of each single Reddit, the user posts on the site. Karma is simply a measure of how welcome one’s contribution is on the site in terms of both the posts and the comments.

To stay in the good books of the moderators and other Reddit members:

Target the right niche by placing the Reddit post under an appropriate subreddit in order to reach out to likeminded friends, interested in a specific topic.


Note that humour and knowledge find favour within the community with any form of fun and knowledge trending high among the posts on the site. Reddit also supports diverse political opinion and serves as a platform for political propaganda.

Spam links vanish into thin air almost instantly as the community is quick to identify and obliterate them. Do not make a conscious effort to flood with queue with links to a specific site, or multiple sites in an attempt to drive inbound traffic, the effort may not really materialise and may in fact be penalised.

Posting links while refraining from reading other posts, participating in discussions or commenting on other posts is also a trend that is bound to be noticed and curtailed.

Avoid posting personal information on Reddit in an attempt to harass or embarrass others. Repeated attempts are punishable by bans.

Branding and Marketing
Explicit marketing efforts do not really yield any results on this site; however, a few intelligent branding experiments have been successful by promoting content that is relevant at the community level. The “Ask Me Anything” posts have been used by actors to promote movies, while an antiperspirant brand degree is cashed in on by other performers to get sufficient publicity.