In the past few days, Reddit has come into the limelight for its users’ role in the dramatic jump in stock price for GameStop and other companies. Reddit serves as a community to a diverse 430+ million active monthly users, with the use and creation of specific subreddits allowing users to cater the app and website content to their interests. The subreddits can range in topics from US Politics, the stock market, the various versions of the game Animal Crossing, and even to your favorite cereals.
Whatever subreddit you want to join, it remains clear that Reddit serves not only as a vibrant community in which you can find like-minded people with which to interact but also an opportunity to interact with individuals whose lives and opinions are as different from yours as possible. The ability to socially interact with a variety of people and even potentially raise the price of stocks together has never been more real than it is right now.
Wow, Wall Street is really taking a disliking to Reddit. When the forum goes dark, you know something is up. I guess the big players on the stock market do not appreciate when the average person in masses start short setting with the platform Robinhood.
https://www.cnn.com/2021/01/27/tech/reddit-wallstreetbets-private-gamestop/index.html
Hi Dana,
Thanks for sharing this. Just today, I read a story posted on Reddit about someone who made 50M with GameStop.
As you’ve mentioned, there are subreddits for EVERYTHING and you are almost guaranteed to find the information you are looking for on it. In the context of education, Reddit is blocked my most school divisions. There’s a plethora of useful information accessible on Reddit but there’s also a lot of inappropriate content. There were a few blog posts related to using Reddit for HigherEd and sharing of resources (which I’ll share at the bottom) but do you think this is something that can be used in a classroom with students?
Resource sharing related post: https://www.americanboard.org/blog/reddit-the-unlikely-resource-every-teacher-needs/
Universities and Reddit: https://www.insidehighered.com/blogs/call-action-marketing-and-communications-higher-education/how-redditcom%E2%80%99s-rprofessors-provides
Seo-Whi,
I definitely think Reddit could be an excellent resource in schools, but like yours, it has always been banned in mine. However, even with it banned while on campus, I think it should still be utilized by teachers, and could potentially have specific, well-moderated relevant subreddits recommended to students to refer to at home. While I think it could be an excellent resource tool within the class– whether acting as a way to monitor student involvement with class-specific subreddits (moderated by the teacher), or as a way for students to learn more about specific topics and learn how to critically think about and consider resources that are readily available on the internet– I am not sure how teachers and districts could go about making it a safe and appropriate for primary and secondary students.