Reddit, the self-proclaimed “front page of the internet,” announced today that it is doubling the number of default subreddits (sections) to have stories featured on its own front page. These are what appear for logged out users, and as the default categories for new users.
They’re bumping it up from twenty-five to fifty.
Of course logged in users will get a more personalized experience with stories drawing from the subreddits they subscribe to.
The new defaults are as follows:
/r/announcements
/r/Art
/r/AskReddit
/r/askscience
/r/aww
/r/blog
/r/books
/r/creepy
/r/dataisbeautiful
/r/DIY
/r/Documentaries
/r/EarthPorn
/r/explainlikeimfive
/r/Fitness
/r/food
/r/funny
/r/Futurology
/r/gadgets
/r/gaming
/r/GetMotivated
/r/gifs
/r/history
/r/IAmA
/r/InternetIsBeautiful
/r/Jokes
/r/LifeProTips
/r/listentothis
/r/mildlyinteresting
/r/movies
/r/Music
/r/news
/r/nosleep
/r/nottheonion
/r/oldschoolcool
/r/personalfinance
/r/philosophy
/r/photoshopbattles
/r/pics
/r/science
/r/Showerthoughts
/r/space
/r/sports
/r/television
/r/tifu
/r/todayilearned
/r/TwoXChromosomes
/r/UpliftingNews
/r/videos
/r/worldnews
/r/writingprompts
It’s a pretty healthy balance of topics, wouldn’t you say?
There are some noticeable omissions from the list. The company made some changes to the defaults last summer, and got rid of /atheism and r/politics. Neither are part of the new set of fifty, despite being part of a previous set of twenty-five. When they removed those, this is what reddit said about it:
“We could give you a canned corporate answer or a diplomatic answer that is carefully crafted for the situation. But since this is reddit, we’re going to try things a bit differently and give you the real answer: they just weren’t up to snuff. Now, don’t get us wrong, there still ARE good parts about them. Overall, they just haven’t continued to grow and evolve like the other subreddits we’ve decided to add.”
Apparently they still aren’t up to snuff for even the top fifty at this point.
If you don’t like the list of defaults as it stands now, don’t worry. Reddit says it intends to change them more often. On the other hand, that’s why they let you have an account. Make it your own.
The company seems to be looking to better monetize its front page. Last month, they announced some new ad targeting capabilities for it as well. Why not expand the number of topics to interest more people as well?
Image via reddit
