Reddit's New Tab Wants to Make Discovering Content Easier

Reddit has created a new tab that aims to make easier to find new content, the social media company said Thursday. The Discover Tab is the first such update that Reddit has released in more than two years.

Currently, Reddit users find new communities called subreddits to join by searching the platform, browsing what's popular or stumbling upon a hyperlink in a comment. But with more than 100,000 active communities on Reddit, there are a lot of subreddits that people don't know about. 

The Discover Tab will display content Reddit users might like partly based on their activity on the platform. For example, if a Reddit user is reading a lot of football and baseball subreddits, then they'll see more sports content in the Discover Tab. If Reddit users are new, they'll see content ranked based on what's currently popular on the platform. The tab displays communities using photos and videos.

The creation of the discover tab highlights how Reddit is trying to showcase the variety of content on its platform. Like other social media apps, Reddit has been rolling out new tools such as live audio and short-form video. Helping Reddit users find new communities could also entice them to spend more time on the site discussing their favorite topics.

"We're kind of moving from just being a traditional text-based experience to really highlighting and focusing on the rich multimedia aspect of the content corpus," said Jason Costa, Reddit's director of product for community and content.

Costa said that Reddit isn't moving away from text but is trying to expand the types of content on its platform. One in five people joined at least one new community after using the Discover Tab, Reddit said.

Recommending content to users has been controversial for social media apps. Users can go down a rabbit hole of looking at dangerous content such as eating disorder videos when the same type of content is being surfaced to them by algorithms. Instagram has been testing a way to see three different types of feeds including an option to view content in chronological order.

Costa said that subreddits that have been banned, quarantined or marked as sensitive will not be eligible for the Discover Tab. Moderators on Reddit are also able to add tags to communities so users know if a discussion contains sexual content, graphic violence or any other types of mature content. The tab will also only surface content that has been rated E for everyone, which means that it's not likely to discuss topics such as alcohol and tobacco, drug use and nudity, he said. Users will also be able to hide content in the tab or ask Reddit to show more or less of what's recommended.

The Discover tab is rolling out globally for both iPhone and Android users on mobile devices. To access the tab, users click on a compass icon at the bottom of the Reddit app. Reddit is also releasing a tool called Community and Profile Drawers so users can better organize the communities they join and another feature that makes it easier for users to access their profile.