Reddit comes with chat channels like Discord and Slack

Reddit introduces channels for chatting, similar to what we know from Telegram, Discord, and Slack. Reddit is known for its discussion group-slash-forum concept, which makes the addition of chat channels a huge expansion. However, it doesn’t necessarily only do this for users: it seems to be mainly about stiff competition with other chat programs like Discord and Telegram.

Reddit

Reddit is very popular: it has 430 million monthly active users, making it a huge platform. In fact, as of February 2023, it is the 10th most visited website in the world. It’s a place to share memes, frustrations about technology not working, leaks around games and phones, and more. Reddit has been around since 2005, though it experienced massive growth in 2017 and 2018, and it’s only since then that it really is what it is today. One of the most important aspects of Reddit is how it’s ranked: other users can upvote or downvote your answer.

Although it is a somewhat American-centric medium (half of users come from the United States, another 8 percent from the United Kingdom, and about 6 percent from Canada). But there are many Dutch people who support this discovery by two students from the University of Virginia. While the forum element is very important, Reddit is expanding. It will soon have chat channels. They are already introduced in 25 subreddits, and you can continue to describe a more specific part of a topic in real time.

Live chat.

Reddit in general is a bit less direct: although there is indeed instant response, the forum structure is very different from a chat channel, where you have to talk directly. Or, well, you should: you don’t have to respond very quickly, even in a channel on Telegram or Slack, but the follow-up is faster: there is a small gap between the previous chat and the response to it. This isn’t entirely new to Reddit, which already had live chat.

Reddit writes: “First, based on all our experience with chat, we take a mod-first approach. That is, building from scratch (tools, management, etc.) with mods in mind. Mods get a special mod-only channel to discuss mod matters among fellow mods. Second, these will be dedicated spaces rather than one-time postings. It’s a place for your general discussion, a place to share random jokes and comments that you wouldn’t have in a post.”

Is Discord a competitor?

According to Reddit, this is just the beginning. It is now developing the feature in a small pilot project with its volunteer communities, and plans to slowly expand to other subreddits. Which subreddits already have it, it’s unknown. While this is a great addition, we wonder how much it will affect the competition. Discord and Slack are generally used in a different way than Reddit, and those communities are already built there. On the flip side: We’ve all seen that TikTok copy reels Instagram certainly didn’t do any harm.