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mashable.com: The amazing altruism of Redditors is clear through the laundry list of good deeds that have stemmed from the network. From raising $600,000 for a bullied bus monitor to powering the TV dreams of disabled comedian Zach Anner, a lot of good happens because of Reddit.
I'm not a reddit user, so I'm not familiar with the community, its users, or how generous they are. But I would guess that the success of this idea is completely reliant on the popularity of the sight. If it's a popular sight, then it will be successful. People are always looking for ways to help. And since the creation of kickstart and other online donation forums, it has been easier for friends and social networks to support each others causes, and if Reddit has found a way to improve upon that and evolve it to be even better and more accessible, what could be bad about that? I find it interesting that they created a way to make every donation under $10 completely free. And even donations more than that cost only a flat fee of 25 cents. That's pretty innovative. If I wanted to make a $50 donation to something, I could just make five $10 donations. And that way all of the money would go to the project...pretty cool!
It’s funny to see Reddit show up on the Green Page. Reddit is a really interesting website. It is certainly a source of funny Internet content and nerve center of Internet jokes (ie. memes). But Reddit succeeds in doing more that that. I remember seeing a post created by a guy who traveled around the US for a year helping out other “Redditors”. He slept on people’s couches and helped them with everything from painting houses to farming. This is just one example. Reddit is also fantastic about very quickly gathering support for causes it believes in. This is where this new fundraising platform comes into play. Remember the big SOPA/PIPA bill from last year? Reddit played a big role in raising awareness and eventually stopping that bill. The website is also obsessed with original content and ideas. This new fundraising platform could help Reddit do even more to help out entrepreneurs and provide them the money to actually carry out their ideas. It could also help give the political motivators of Reddit a better tool to get their ideas out there.
I find it easily believable that Reddit could serve to make the internet more charitable. Reddit does have some questionable content but it seems to be one of the few sites of its kind to have the vast majority want to help people. Although more and more these days stuff like this happens. Just last month the creator of a webcomic, the Oatmeal, raised 1.8 million dollars so that he could turn Tesla's old house into a museum because some company had intended to buy the land and bulldoze the house so they could build something else. The internet still has many dark places but the light is slowly filling a lot of it, and people seem to care a lot more then they did just a few years ago.
I do not know much about reddit, beside a good friend who speaks highly of the website. The opportunity that they are putting out there for common people to more easily access social causes is great. This is the great example of the power of the internet. It is not just a vehicle for gaming or porn. This just makes me really excited to see social conscience people using the tools and abilities they have been given to benefit society. This also makes me want to pay more attention to the site and see what the site is all about.
As an avid user of Reddit, I definitely understand how much of a community it is. I admit I didn't know they had a fundraising platform built into the website, but I'm not surprised. I've seen multiple cases of people posting, asking for help, and other Redditors coming to their aid. I think it's only natural that there be a place for non-profits to advertise and solicit donations. I am a bit disappointed that it's not more similar to fundraising websites like Kickstarter and Indiegogo. Since Reddit is typically so user-generated and user-run, I would love to see a place for users to raise funds for their individual projects. Why not use the technology created for Reddit Donate and the simple direct donation process, but use it to help others on Reddit?
5 comments:
I'm not a reddit user, so I'm not familiar with the community, its users, or how generous they are. But I would guess that the success of this idea is completely reliant on the popularity of the sight. If it's a popular sight, then it will be successful. People are always looking for ways to help. And since the creation of kickstart and other online donation forums, it has been easier for friends and social networks to support each others causes, and if Reddit has found a way to improve upon that and evolve it to be even better and more accessible, what could be bad about that? I find it interesting that they created a way to make every donation under $10 completely free. And even donations more than that cost only a flat fee of 25 cents. That's pretty innovative. If I wanted to make a $50 donation to something, I could just make five $10 donations. And that way all of the money would go to the project...pretty cool!
It’s funny to see Reddit show up on the Green Page. Reddit is a really interesting website. It is certainly a source of funny Internet content and nerve center of Internet jokes (ie. memes). But Reddit succeeds in doing more that that. I remember seeing a post created by a guy who traveled around the US for a year helping out other “Redditors”. He slept on people’s couches and helped them with everything from painting houses to farming. This is just one example. Reddit is also fantastic about very quickly gathering support for causes it believes in. This is where this new fundraising platform comes into play. Remember the big SOPA/PIPA bill from last year? Reddit played a big role in raising awareness and eventually stopping that bill. The website is also obsessed with original content and ideas. This new fundraising platform could help Reddit do even more to help out entrepreneurs and provide them the money to actually carry out their ideas. It could also help give the political motivators of Reddit a better tool to get their ideas out there.
I find it easily believable that Reddit could serve to make the internet more charitable. Reddit does have some questionable content but it seems to be one of the few sites of its kind to have the vast majority want to help people. Although more and more these days stuff like this happens. Just last month the creator of a webcomic, the Oatmeal, raised 1.8 million dollars so that he could turn Tesla's old house into a museum because some company had intended to buy the land and bulldoze the house so they could build something else. The internet still has many dark places but the light is slowly filling a lot of it, and people seem to care a lot more then they did just a few years ago.
I do not know much about reddit, beside a good friend who speaks highly of the website. The opportunity that they are putting out there for common people to more easily access social causes is great. This is the great example of the power of the internet. It is not just a vehicle for gaming or porn. This just makes me really excited to see social conscience people using the tools and abilities they have been given to benefit society. This also makes me want to pay more attention to the site and see what the site is all about.
As an avid user of Reddit, I definitely understand how much of a community it is. I admit I didn't know they had a fundraising platform built into the website, but I'm not surprised. I've seen multiple cases of people posting, asking for help, and other Redditors coming to their aid. I think it's only natural that there be a place for non-profits to advertise and solicit donations. I am a bit disappointed that it's not more similar to fundraising websites like Kickstarter and Indiegogo. Since Reddit is typically so user-generated and user-run, I would love to see a place for users to raise funds for their individual projects. Why not use the technology created for Reddit Donate and the simple direct donation process, but use it to help others on Reddit?
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