When most people think of reddit, they think of rage comics, funny memes and perplexing pictures. Now, though, UB is getting in on the karma whoring.
Reddit, a social news website on which members can post anything they want, is currently hosting the Grow a College Subreddit Competition.
Thanks to Krista Armbruster, a junior biology and Spanish major, UB has had its very own corner of the reddit universe for nearly a year now. It's located at reddit.com/r/ubreddit and is now a contender in the contest. Although it only started with about 50 schools, the size of the competition has quadrupled and today features over 200.
"It's a competition put on by reddit as a whole for the fastest growing college subreddit," Armbruster said. "It's based on how many subscribers [the subreddit] can get in a set amount of time, how many posts, how many different hits from people and pretty much how cool it is."
The prizes include stickers and posters custom designed for the winning college's reddit and a potential meet up hosted by a reddit admin. The biggest part of the prize pack, though, is the chance to have the winning school's colors and mascot on the reddit homepage for a day.
"There are millions of hits on reddit every day," Armbruster said. "Everyone sees that homepage. So if UB is on there, that will raise a lot of awareness that UB exists and that it's a large and awesome school."
The UB subreddit, aptly titled UBreddit, currently has about 240 subscribers and gets roughly 200 page views a day, according to Armbruster. However, she is currently working on getting that number larger.
For the past year she has been hanging posters up around campus advertising for her subreddit. Those who don't frequent the website, though, may be unaware that they have even seen them on the bulletin boards.
"My personal goal isn't exactly to drag in every single person that has never heard of reddit. I wanted to bring in people who are already redditors who didn't know about UB's reddit yet," Armbruster said. "My poster is very simple, it's just the reddit alien with ubreddit underneath it to bring in people who already know about it and to raise awareness about my subreddit."
On UBreddit, members are able to discuss anything and everything UB. Or, if it's more their thing, merely post some funny pictures. Currently, there are topics on favorite UB professors and a discussion of the ever-changing times of meal exchange.
This ability to talk anonymously with others about topics unique to UB has helped foster a distinct feeling of community for the members of UBreddit.
"With the UB board I'm looking to post more just because it is a smaller community and I feel like I contribute more to it," said Nick Robin, a freshman business major. "I think it's an easy way to talk to other students without feeling, not to say judged, but with a layer of anonymity. It's more of a way for people who are similar in interests to interact."
Armbruster explained that UBreddit isn't just for current students. It's open to everyone who's UB affiliated, including alumni, prospective students, faculty and staff. She believes that it's a great way for people to connect and start up conversations on topics they really care about.
Others choose to use UBreddit as a way to keep up to date with news around campus.
"I haven't seen too much relevant information, but it IS my main source of info on UB. I found out about our distinguished speakers first through UBreddit on some post, for example, much sooner than I would have checked MyUB. Same with Spring Fest lineup last year. I read the UBreddit more than the Spectrum, honestly," said McBurger, a UBreddit member in a message.
The Grow a College Subreddit Competition will end on Oct. 24 at 1 p.m. While it's still too early to tell if UBreddit will win, it's never too late to head over and throw your voice into the mix.
Email: features@ubspectrum.com
