It's been quite a year for the front page of the Internet.
Big or small, Reddit experienced a lot of change within the past twelve months. Now serving 6% of online adults and, according to internal reports, averaging 5.1 billion monthly page views, Reddit seems to keep grabbing the world's attention, making the transition from a fringe network for the "Internet savvy" to a booming web metropolis.
See also: Reddit: A Beginner's Guide
Through high-profile AMAs to unfavorable media reports following the Boston Bombing witch hunt, Reddit has seen its fair share of peaks and valleys this calendar year. Here, we take a look back at the site's highest highs and lowest lows.
In 2013, Reddit hosted AMAs with astronauts and billionaires, divided the community in teams of Orangered and Periwinkle, and tried its very best to open a safe. Check out our year in review below.
Bill Gates
In his extremely transparent and informative AMA, the chairman of Microsoft responded to user questions about Bing vs. Google, his relationship with Steve Jobs and his personal thoughts about world issues such as poverty and disease prevention. Another highlight came when a user asked the billionaire if he had anything left on his bucket list. Gates responded, "Don't die..."
Chris Hadfield
The first confirmed alien sighting in space: It must mean it's time for my Reddit AMA! Hope for intelligent life! pic.twitter.com/0nR753eC
— Chris Hadfield (@Cmdr_Hadfield) February 17, 2013
From aboard the International Space Station, Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield answered questions about space policy, the industry and anything else that piqued his interest. Hadfield also made a mark when he posted his Space Oddity cover on the site in May.
/u/Unidan
Reddit's resident biologist, Unidan (known outside the Internet as Ben Eisenkop, a graduate teaching assistant at a New York State university), holds a demigod level status on the site, thrilling users with amazing ecology facts. His AMA lived up to expectations, eliciting nearly 14,000 upvotes and containing a plethora of fascinating science facts.
Snoop Lion
When Snoop Lion came back for his second AMA in July, he answered Reddit's hard-hitting questions with even harder-hitting responses. Hilariously, the musician and devoted redditor began answering several of his own questions, asking himself what kind of soup he would be and responding with "alphabet soup."
The Safe:
When user dont_stop_me_smee first posted about finding a safe on a friend's rented property, he likely didn't expect to incite such a level of manic interest in the Reddit community. After creating the subreddit /r/WhatsInThisThing and promising to keep users updated on his progress in cracking the safe, he all but disappeared. Reddit swiftly turned on him, accusing him of lying and "karma whoring." The safe has since become a recurring inside joke across the site.
Samuel L. Jackson's Monologue
In May, Samuel L. Jackson went to Reddit with a promise to read the most upvoted comment on his post in monologue form. Luckily for us, he delivered — twice. One of the winning entries had Jackson confessing that he was quitting acting in order to pursue his true calling: a life of vigilantism.
Racists and Skinheads Share What Changed Their Minds
Some incredibly powerful and honest comments fill this /r/AskReddit thread. Receiving over 10,000 upvotes, the top comments are stories of how formerly bigoted Redditors' perspectives changed over time.
Removal of /r/Atheism and /r/Politics as Default Subreddits
Reddit announced the removal of two of its most subscribed-to subreddits, /r/Atheism and /r/Politics, in their official blog this July. In the post, Reddit's community manager Alex Angel stated that the two controversial subreddits "just haven't continued to grow and evolve like the other subreddits we've decided to add." The five subreddits added to the default list were /r/books, /r/earthporn, /r/explainlikeimfive, /r/gifs and /r/television.
April Fools' 2013: Periwinkle vs. Orangered
Image: Reddit
In an April Fools blog post, Reddit announced it had purchased the popular online multiplayer game Team Fortress 2. Users site wide were divided into two teams, Orangered or Periwinkle — for the colors of the upvote and downvote arrows — and given several "inventory items." The event was mostly confusing to users not familiar with the game, which added to the fun of it.
Introducing Multireddits
Image: Reddit
After two months of beta testing, Reddit released a new feature called "multireddits" this July, allowing users to create specific groups of subreddits for more customized viewing of the site. For more information and instructions, check out our explainer article: "New Multireddits Customize Your Reddit Homepage".
Daily Gold Thermometer
In response to community interest piqued by a TIL post about the site's revenue issues, Reddit instituted a "daily gold goal thermometer" on the front page. The thermometer updates every 10 minutes and provides more incentive for users to support the site's "gold" feature.
Reddit and The Atlantic Partner for Video AMA Series
On Nov. 15, Reddit and The Atlantic's video channel announced the creation of a joint project called "Ask Washington Anything," in which Washington, D.C.'s insiders answer your questions. It's just one more example of Reddit branching out and becoming more than just a social network.
The Tragic Death of Aaron Swartz
The Reddit community mourned the loss of Swartz, who joined the team in 2006 when his company Infogami merged with Reddit. Following his death, Swartz's life was celebrated throughout the community.
The Boston Bombing Witch Hunt:
In the search to identify and capture the Boston Bombing suspects, hundreds of redditors took part in an act of "Internet vigilantism," attempting to analyze and isolate those responsible. Several innocent marathon attendees were wrongly accused by users in the /r/FindBostonBombers subreddit, including missing Brown University student Sunil Tripathi, who was later found dead. Reddit quickly responded and apologized for the witch hunt on their official blog.
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Mashable composite. Image: Reddit