Week 7

 I personally have only started using Reddit a month or so ago, from what I have experienced, in terms of its user interface, the members of its community and sub-communities, and the format in which their advertisements are laid out, I have concluded that Reddit is by far the most unique social media platform available today. Rather than acting as a pit for its users to throw their meaningless photographs and daily stories into, it encourages curiosity, intellectuality, and open-mindedness. It is up to the user to manually pursue their interests on their site versus having everything served to you on a silver platter as Instagram and Facebook does.  

But of course like any other site, advertisements act as the biggest way those who run the site make their income, so it comes to no surprise that their is an abundance of them. However, when considering the relevance these ads hold to the users, it is impossible to ignore the baselessness and completely off-target goods and services that are being advertised. Ads from such broad and already popularly consumed brands such as Apple and Google give no impression of personalization to the user. According to the article posted by Professor Kelsey, the horror genre is very popular among Reddit users, as is gaming and food. It is here that I point out that Reddit has the option to double down on what is popular among their users and begin advertising to the majority, such as ads for horror streaming like Shudder, gaming consoles like PlayStation or Xbox, or even something like cannabis, while not as forefront, certainly goes hand in hand. But in the end, it is best to keep a broad and impersonal advertising technique on their platforms, as it encourages a wide array of different people to participate in the conversations and philosophies that are shared on Reddit on a daily basis.