Reddit's model for a better internet | Steve Huffman

**Elise Hu** (0:04)
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** (0:28)
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** (0:41)
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. Twenty 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** (1:04)
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** (1:17)
Stick around after the talk. We caught up with TED Tech curator Bilal Vosidou, who's shared a few thoughts and takeaways on Steve's work for us to consider. That's all coming up right after a short break.
And now, our TED Talk of the day.

**Steve Huffman** (1:42)
So, I'm Steve Huffman, and today I want to start with a question. Are humans going extinct on the internet? I'll cut to the chase, my answer is no. But the internet is becoming more automated and more optimized for attention. And people feel more alone. And 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.
And so, if we want to maintain our humanity on the internet, we are going to have to build it intentionally. And I want to introduce an idea, which is the stage versus the city.
But first, a little bit of context. So, a few of us started Reddit in 2005, 20 years ago. We were kids, I was 21 We didn't have a plan for the future of the internet, we didn't have a plan for ourselves.
The idea was very simple. We wanted a place where people could share links from around the web and talk about them. And submit links and talk about them, they did. In fact, one of the first inside jokes on Reddit was, I didn't read the article, but... And then, you know, a thousand words about the article, they didn't read.
But from these conversations emerged communities. First one, then a couple, then a dozen, then thousands and hundreds of thousands. The communities sometimes are interesting, helpful, funny, weird. Sometimes all of these things. I left in 2009 I was gone for five years. And when I came back, the platform was in a different place. So it was at a low point. Among many reasons, the most important was there was no policies. There was no guardrails about what behavior was acceptable or not. And so while communities are created naturally, they emerge naturally when people are together, a platform, a system where many communities can coexist in a healthy and sustainable way and thrive, that has to happen on purpose. And that's what we've been working on. A few years ago, the US Surgeon General declared loneliness an epidemic. Seventy-three percent of people surveyed said technology contributes to that loneliness, which is not great if you run an internet technology company. But at the same time, people are spending more and more time at in-person events. So in the most chronically online era, people are seeking out in-person connection. So the question isn't, do people want connection? The question is, how do we deliver it? And how do we deliver it on the internet intentionally? So what would a more human internet look like?
Well, let's set a little context here. If you were born after the year 2000, you have never experienced the internet without social media. Social media and the internet are different things. Social media is a distinct format that is unnatural, and it causes people to have to perform. Social media, the analogy I use is the stage. There's a spotlight, there's an audience, there's a performer, there's someone or something trying to get your attention. And so this environment creates performers. Imagine going to a wedding with an open bar and an open mic, and everybody taking turns vying for attention. It's kind of annoying.