On Oct. 6, 2015, the Reddit Blog published an introduction to Upvoted, a new website run by Reddit, featuring the content on Reddit. Upvoted has its very own team of writers and editors who will write between 10 to 40 stories a day, covering all the untold, upvoted stories that are posted on the Reddit website.
In the world of Reddit, upvoted stories are posts that have garnered popularity, attention, and interest from users (redditors) on Reddit and that have, as a result, been upvoted. Redditors have described Upvoted as “Buzzfeed, but with less Buzzfeed and more Reddit.”
On Upvoted, content ranging from gifs to cat photos to world news and scary stories—and everything in between—are researched in further detail. Upvoted looks to answer questions like: what happened before or after a post was made and is it possible that certain fan theories could be true? According to Reddit CEO and founder Alexis Ohanian in an Oct. 6, 2015 introductory post, Upvoted is “a hub for original content to give Redditors credit, as well as go beyond the original story to learn more about the people and ideas.”
Upvoted also contains video Ask Me Anythings (AMAs)—public online interviews that are synonymous with the Reddit website. Also featured are podcasts and articles covering a variety of topics, including video games, communication, peanut butter, and electromagnetic theory.
There is theoretically no limit to the topics that can be featured on Upvoted, because the website is inspired by the posts of the millions of users on Reddit. Their collective minds, experiences, discoveries, and imaginations bring in a constant flow of new information, thoughts and stories.
Redditors, however, are torn between the advantages and disadvantages of Upvoted. Some are worried that it may ruin Reddit’s image, finding the new website pointless. Others believe that Upvoted will help advertise and share Reddit with the more mainstream part of the Internet. Reddit’s format is widely regarded as user-unfriendly; however, content on Upvoted is formatted in a more accessible and easy to consume manner, not unlike Buzzfeed.
A much-debated topic among Redditors is the benefit of Upvoted to users, as the new website lacks a traditional comments section. Instead each article provides a link to the featured Redditor’s original post, providing them with the opportunity to gain more upvotes and support from Upvoted’s audience, while also introducing Upvoted’s readers to the main website: Reddit.