Reddit's model for a better internet | Steve Huffman
6/15/202616 min
The internet was created to connect us, yet many people feel more alone than ever. Reddit cofounder and CEO Steve Huffman explores how social media rewards performance over participation — and offers a timely case for an internet built like a city, with thriving online "neighborhoods" that make space for real human connection. Ready to find your community?
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First 90 secondsElise Hu· Host0:00
[upbeat music] You're listening to TED Talks Daily, where we bring you new ideas to spark your curiosity every day. I'm your host, Elise Hu. The internet was made by humans for humans, right? We've never had more tools to connect with each other online than we do today, and yet people have never felt more alone. And the internet, it seems like it's never felt more inhuman.
Steve Huffman· Guest0:27
The purpose of the internet was to connect people, and the internet has indeed connected billions of people, but being connected and the feeling of connection are two different things.
Elise Hu· Host0:40
That's co-founder and CEO of Reddit, Steve Huffman, sharing a contradiction he's been grappling with. Steve started Reddit at 21 with no plan for the future of the internet or even for himself. 20 years later, he thinks it's time we had one. In this talk, he makes the case that social media and the internet are not the same thing, and that the model most of us have been living inside might be the problem.
Steve Huffman· Guest1:04
The more automated and summarized and sanitized and manicured that the rest of the internet becomes, the more we need places for people to be people, for people to be humans.
Elise Hu· Host1:17
Stick around. After the talk, we caught up with TED Tech curator Bilal Sidhu, who shared a few thoughts and takeaways on Steve's work for us to consider. That's all coming up right after a short break.