What does your subreddit want?

To determine what your chosen subreddit community likes, a good place to start is the “Top” posts in the subreddit. You can access the top posts by going to the front page of your subreddit and clicking on the “top” tab near the header area.

After the “top” tab loads, you’ll see a “links from:” option in the top left corner. This determines the time period of the top posts (e.g. past year) and we will use this option in Today’s Assignment to look at top posts from different time periods.

When looking at the top posts in your chosen subreddit, there are a few things you should look for:

– Are there any particular content types that are most commonly used? How many images, videos, links to articles, and text posts do you see?

– Where is the content hosted? Are there any specific websites or types of websites that are commonly linked to?

– Do you see any similarity among the titles? Do the titles give you an objective description of the content or do they feature clickbait tactics (teasing, editorial, hyperbole)?

– What types of stories are being told? For example, one subreddit might like stories about injustice while another subreddit likes stories about redemption.

By taking a critical look at the top posts of the subreddit, you learn how to tailor your posts to match the preferences of the community. The top posts can also inspire new ideas for content that will perform well in the subreddit.

Today’s Assignment: Analyze the top posts in your chosen subreddit

Navigate to the “top” tab of your subreddit (https://www.reddit.com/r/your_subreddit/top/) and sort the tab by “past month”. Review the top posts listed and ask yourself the questions listed above. Then repeat the process looking at the top posts from the “past year” and “all time”.