Published on February 3rd, 2012 | by Kim LaCapria
0Reddit Co-Founder Ohanian Acknowledges Site is a Lefty-Libertarian Wet Dream
After emerging as a significant force of political action on the web and off over the past year, Reddit has gotten a bit of a reputation for not only becoming quite powerful, but also for its relatively unique political makeup in- at least among American users- what is a becoming a very polarized nation.
Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian- who, we might add, is also frequently posted to the r/ladyboners subreddit- spoke to Forbes recently about the interesting political composition of Reddit. Many believe that as the 2012 election approaches, Reddit can wield significant influence over the coveted younger and web-savvy demographic- and Redditors are known for a bit of affection for controversial candidate Ron Paul. Ohanian explained to the site where he believes the genesis of Reddit’s caucus began, saying:
“Reddit has attracted a lefty, libertarian audience since the beginning… we got all of [Y-Combinator’s] Paul Graham’s early users which were basically geeks like us. They were the perfect early adopters. They were smart and really into technology… He wrote long form, tech-related stuff that attracted a certain kind of user who had the patience to read through many, many paragraphs on the Internet. So that fertilized the community with people with good ideas who upvoted good content.”
Ohanian continues:
“Maybe libertarians especially like Reddit because it is a perfect marketplace of content. Every Redditor is created equal, whether you’re the highest karma Redditor or a brand-new Redditor with 10 karma points. No submissions or votes are more equal than others.”