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#reddit#stevehuffman#bootstrapping

Growing Reddit - Web Development

Udacity

655K subscribers • 8 videos on Hallway

YouTube
  • Recommended by 2 people: 2 on Hacker News.
  • A classic. People kept recommending it from 2014 to 2017.
  • Presented by Steve Huffman, co-founder of Reddit
  • May be out of date. Uploaded 14 years ago, in an area where tools change fast.

Beginner. No background in the topic needed.

90K views14 years ago2 recommendations

Web developmentCareers and interviewsStartupsInside tech companies

Steve Huffman explains how Reddit bootstrapped its initial user base and content by creating fake accounts to make the site look active.

This video is part of an online course, Web Development. Check out the course here: udacity.com/course/cs253.

Why it's here

2 people recommend this, 1 disputes it

What people say. Frequently cited as a classic example of 'faking it till you make it' to solve the cold-start problem in online communities.

epsylonon Hacker News • Recommends

On “Ask HN: How do you start a website that requires user contribution?”

Steve Huffman talks about this in his Udacity course on web development: link to this video (The whole unit 7 talks a lot about how they built Reddit.)
View on Hacker News

mohsinron Hacker News • Recommends

On “Ask HN: How do sites like Reddit, HackerNews, etc get initial user content?”

In this video Steve, co founder of Reddit, mentions some tips, steps they did, like own account creation and submitting links on the fly... link to this video
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flawawa2on Hacker News • Disputes

On “How Reddit Was Built With an Army of Fake Accounts”

Pretty much zero content except for the video mashable did not make: link to this video (which is cut in the worst way possible, all pauses were removed and it is really obvious. Feels like hectic verbal hiccup.)
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adventuredon Hacker News • Mentions

On “Ask HN: Established company planning same thing as 1-man startup – please advise”

It's a complicated line sometimes to walk. Reddit for example faked their user base to get started, and have admitted such, here: link to this video This is a common approach to demonstrating a product early on when there's little to no traction. If users show up and it's a ghost town, they will leave.
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Posibyteon Hacker News • Mentions

On “Ask HN: How do sites like Reddit, HackerNews, etc get initial user content?”

Part of the Udemy course Huffman was offering he said this 1 And honestly, it doesn't bother me all that much. I see it like an engine needing a big spray of gasoline and a spark before it can run. Just because it didn't start with pistons running doesn't mean it's a bad engine. I see it more as faking it till they made it, and it worked. They were their own biggest fans. 1: link to this video
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FatalLogicon Hacker News • Mentions

On “How the biggest consumer apps got their first 1k users”

…they still needed a few months to get the site self-sustaining so they could stop faking user engagement. In that talk, Steve Huffman never even mentions influencers. Paul Graham didn't write about Reddit until 3 or 4 months in, after they had retired the fake user posting, though I agree with you influencers and friends must have been a help 1 link to this video…
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leaneuron Hacker News • Mentions

On “Udacity Web Development CS253”

true, but sounds incomplete! check this video's link to this video , it's called "Growing Reddit - Web Development" and in the description, they say "This video is part of an online course, Web Development. Check out the course here: link ." but can't find it in the Intro to backend course link
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han-tyumion Hacker News • Mentions

On “A messaging app startup that raised $200M shuts down afters users were 95% fake”

Reddit is a little different as their intention was to populate the platform with content in the early days 1, not to mislead investors with fake metrics. Mind you that Huffman and Ohanian did this manually, while founders today can use LLMs to fill their platforms with bots that can interact "naturally" with users. I wonder how many are already doing it. 1 link to this video
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kmeisthaxon Hacker News • Mentions

On “Ask HN: What was the outcome of Reddit blackout?”

…comments1. So Reddit's administration is not above creating fake accounts and content to juice numbers. How much of Reddit's engagement is faked is up for debate - I suspect it's less than we think. However, it'd be really funny if, say, when Reddit IPOs, someone at /r/WSB catches onto this and triggers a bunch of people shorting the stock. 0 link to this video via link 1 link…
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