The CEO of Reddit has announced that a major subreddit will be disappearing for its one billion users.
This comes after the social media site announced that it would be ‘moving away’ from its r/popular thread, which is what new users see as their default feed.
Instead, Reddit will be replacing the subreddit with ‘better, more relevant and personalized feeds’.
Discussing the change, CEO Steve Huffman explained: “For a long while, we were known as the ‘front page of the internet,’ but we’ve outgrown a singular front page for everyone.
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“You have different interests than I do, and your Reddit should look different from mine. And from your neighbor’s, or your coworker’s, or your best friend’s.”
Referring to r/popular in particular, the CEO went on to say: “In theory, it’s what’s most popular on Reddit, but it’s actually what is liked by the most active users on Reddit - which is not the same thing. Having it as a default feed gives the false impression of a singular Reddit culture, one that is neither representative of Reddit nor appealing to new users (or anyone at all, IMO).”
Instead, in the ‘near future’, the platform will ‘stop showing it to new users, and unless you read it regularly, we’ll remove it from the core group of feeds in the app’.
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Many users have taken to Reddit to share their own thoughts on the shake-up, with one person saying: “I like Popular, and it’s interesting to see things others care about that I don’t necessarily do or know about. And that’s the beauty of it. I have enough personalized feeds on the internet. But spez is a f***ing moron so…”
Another wrote: “I wish they revert to the old algorithm in my feed. I am tired of seeing 3 day old threads. I don't want to comment that late.”
A third user commented: “I just wish the f***ing app had the best and hot options like it does on the site. Tbh I’m so sick of seeing the same subs in my home feed. I shouldn’t have to participate in every single place I subscribe just to see all of them equally.”
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And a fourth added: “/popular/ is where 99% of my time is on Reddit. The home feed is just an echo chamber that I occasionally look at. If it goes away, I won't have much motivation to keep using Reddit.”