Reddit's New Discover Feature Will Show Personalized GIFs, Videos, and Pictures Similar to Instagram

Reddit announced that it would roll out its new tab called 'Discover' on its mobile app. This will mark the site's first major change in two years.

Reddit to Launch Discover

The Discover feature offers personalized recommendations, revamped navigation system, new Community and Profile menus, and new access to the site's profile settings. The feature will also allow users to easily access their account on the site, according to The Verge.

Reddit stated that the decision to add the Discover tab was due to the user's plea to make scrolling easier on the site. Users wanted to be able to explore their interests while going through the different threads.

Currently, the site has more than 100,000 active communities, but a lot of them are still under-exposed.

Jason Costa, Reddit's Director of Product for Content and Communities, told TechCrunch that they want to connect hard-to-find subreddits and communities to users who may be interested in them.

Although subreddits and communities do pop up after searching for it on the site, it takes a lot of work. Also, it is not the easiest thing to do, as you will need to know the keywords before you can pull up the right subreddit or community.

Reddit acknowledged this dilemma, so they created a new surface area to make it easier to discover under-appreciated communities and subreddits.

How Discover Works

The new Discover Tab can be accessed at the right side of the home button on Reddit's mobile app for both Android and iOS, according to CNA.

You will see a visually engaging, vertical feed of subreddit recommendations, either based on popularity, your tenure on the site, or your engagement patterns.

Reddit will take into consideration things like which subscribers you already have and where you spend the most time on the site.

If you are new, the site will start making suggestions and showing you popular communities until it gets a clearer picture of your interests.

The site won't leverage any understanding of user demographics, like location, age, or gender, for its recommendations.

As you scroll down the tab, you will see GIFs, photos, and videos in small rectangular or square boxes. They are overlaid with the name of the community that they represent.

Costa stated that selecting rich multimedia will bring more sight, sound, and motion to the Reddit app, and it won't be as text-heavy as before.

The new feature will also let you refine your suggestions as you go by long-pressing on a tile then choosing options like "Show Me More of this Content," "Show Me Less of that Content," and "Hide That Content."

Across the top of the new section are high-level categories, like Animals, Sports, Technology, Hobbies, History. You can explore areas beyond your current interest.

Costa clarified that Reddit would not recommend any community that is NSFW, based on its community content tags rating system.

Also, it won't suggest any community that has been banned or quarantined because it means that it may not be appropriate for a broad recommendation.

In 2021, Reddit added real-time typing and reading indicators for iOS and Android apps.

Related Article: Reddit Tests NFT Profile Picture Feature Similar to Twitter | How it Works

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Written by Sophie Webster

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