Like most other social media platforms, Reddit allows users to express satisfaction in a post. On Reddit, users have different options to express delight or approval in a particular content. It can be via commenting positively, giving an award, or simply just upvoting. Because upvoting is the easiest, many users opt for this instead, and posts can have several thousand upvotes as a result. This raises the question – what is the most upvoted post on Reddit?
Many Redditors and non-Redditors alike are familiar with the Gamestop phenomenon of early 2021. However, to recap, GameStop, a video game retailer based in the United States, grew by over 700% during an attention-drawing period at the end of January. GameStop had been at the end of several short-selling as many investors expected its value to reduce across the coming days.
As Redditors and other retail traders noticed GameStop, they also noticed how significantly shorted the stock was. In response, several members of the WallStreetBets community began buying GameStop shares. As a result, it became a trending Reddit stock, with its value rising quickly. As a result, GameStop’s value increased by more than 8000 per cent across a six-month period. Its shares consequently went from trading at around $43 to as much as $380, resulting in it being one of the highest traded stocks on the market.
The most upvoted post on Reddit was as a result of this moment. Titled “Times Square right now,” it featured a digital billboard on Times Square that said, “GME go BRRRRR.” The video currently stands at 466,000 upvotes and more than 13,000 comments.
Going viral on Reddit
Many factors go into getting your posts to be viral, and luck plays a big part. However, you may need more than luck to unseat Reddit’s current most upvoted post. Nevertheless, your posts may also enjoy some measure of virality if you practice a few key steps.
Quality content
This is an essential factor in ensuring your post goes viral. You are sharing your post with other humans, who naturally will enjoy and share exciting and top-tier content. As such, your first mission is to develop content that is of exceptional quality and worthy of being viral.
Unlike Facebook or Twitter, where other users sign up to see your content, getting attention on Reddit will be difficult if you do not add the necessary value to the communal conversation.
Quality content is also essential because, unlike most other social media platforms, Reddit empowers users to punish posts they consider irrelevant in the form of downvotes. As a result, not only do you lose the opportunity to be viral, but you also get downvoted. Reddit typically hides posts with significant downvotes.
Another aspect of posting quality content is ensuring that your posts are accurate and factual. This is essential because false posts are often aggressively downvoted, effectively killing off their popularity chances. It may be helpful to provide links to the source in the post’s body or as a comment under the post. However, if you are unsure of the authenticity of what you intend to post, you may put up a disclaimer.
The right audience
This is an offshoot of the first factor. A quality post must always be with respect to a particular audience. A well-researched opinion on the fundamentals of cryptocurrency will not pass for quality content in a community like r/Soccer.
Identifying a suitable audience is not difficult, especially on Reddit. The website comprises several communities with specific niches, so you can almost always find an audience. The best way to search for a suitable community is to search for relevant keywords.
After identifying a suitable community, the next step is to ensure you understand the community’s engagement rules. Many communities have different rules, and flouting them may get your post deleted.
The rules are typically on the third panel of the community’s home page. When you arrive in a community, you will automatically arrive at its “posts” section. Click on the “menu” text to assess information about the community. On desktop Reddit, the rules are on the left-side rail of the homepage.
Going through these rules and incorporating them into your post is vital to ensure that your post gets to the members of the communities as (auto) moderators delete posts that flout the rules. If you are unsure about how a particular rule affects your content, you can always send the mods a question.
Size of the community
The size of the community you post your content to is essential as virality is based on upvotes. Because the number of upvotes (relative to downvotes) influences the post’s score, getting as many upvotes as possible is essential.
It is only natural that posts within a community like r/Pics with more than 10 million users will have posts with higher scores than those in communities like r/Barca with about a hundred thousand users.
Making the post at the correct time
This is vital as the timing of the post matters. The older a post is, the unlikelier it is to get – or remain – popular. According to research by Randy Olsen, a “12-hour-old post needs roughly three times the score to match the hotness of a 6-hour-old post”.
Because of this limitation, it is necessary to time your posts to ensure you make it at a point of peak – or near peak – activity. If you post while most users are asleep, it is unlikely to receive as much attention – and activity – as a post made during high activity.
Engage with the post
Many users drop the post and then fail to engage with the comments afterwards. Colloquially referred to as a hit-and-run, doing this will significantly affect the chances of your post getting viral. This is because the most traction on the platform comes from engaging in the discussion and comments that occur after you post. Luckily, Reddit notifies you when a user interacts with your post, making it easy to respond quickly to keep the conversation going.
Our social listening tool, Notifier, is a great help if you are seeking virality for marketing purposes. The tool lets you know what other Redditors are saying, an ability that can help you tailor your post to a specific audience.