Although only 6% of American adults use reddit, teen users and international appeal has helped turn the site into one of the most powerful forces on the internet – both in terms of influence and as a content distribution device. Last month, reddit boasted over 67 million unique visitors who viewed nearly 4.7 billion pages. There’s no denying that it’s a behemoth.
On Tuesday, reddit admins took to their blog to try and clear up some myths and common misconceptions about the site. Mainly that it’s not some giant company, it’s definitely spelt “reddit” (with a lowercase r), and it’s not readying for an IPO – in fact, it’s not even profitable yet. Here are of the top myths that reddit addressed:
- reddit is swimming in cash. In reality, reddit says that they are not yet profitable – something they’ve addressed before on numerous occasions.
- reddit is prepping to go public. “[G]oing public (IPO) means having to answer to short-term shareholders and irrational market pressures. We don’t want to risk either of those,” they say.
- reddit is owned by Conde Nast. The reality is that they used to be, but that all changed in 2012. “reddit was spun out into a re-incorporated independent entity with its own board and control of its own finances,” says the company.
- reddit is massive and employs tons of people. Only if you consider 28 employees to be a massive company. Oh, and just FYI, 32% of them enjoy pulpy orange juice (gross).
- reddit pays celebs to do AMAs. Nope, they say. “We explain that an AMA is something that anyone with a notable life experience can do, and we may offer them help for free, in which “help” consists of helping schedule AMAs or explaining what an AMA really is and how to execute an AMA well – from signing up for a reddit account to what to expect from the audience to how much time they should try to set aside. We don’t accept payment for any of this – AMAs are by and for the community.”
- reddit is actually Reddit. Lowercase all the way, baby.
The more you know.