Special Report of the Day: Reddit’s Ask Me Anything (IAMA) subforum — which invites anyone with a Reddit account to set up an impromptu Q & A session — has always been a captivating crowd pleaser.
But, according to Reddit’s official blog, the popularity of so-called IAMAs suddenly took off in a big way this past week, with three IAMAs (one of which was featured in today’s USA Today) rocketing into the subreddit’s top ten posts of all time. In fact, the IAMA reddit’s recent growth is outpacing the staggering growth of its parent site.
So why exactly is the IAMA format so compelling? Reddit’s Community Manager Erik Martin posits that “by opening themselves up to questions about anything, from anyone, anywhere, IAMA subjects take a big step toward their audience.”
They show that they are willing to jump into the fast and fluid conversation, and that neither interviewer nor interviewee really knows where the discussion is eventually going to go. Everyone is along for the ride. The format works not only because the community (and voting) creates a welcoming forum and keeps things civil, but also because it’s big enough and unpredictable enough to keep things interesting for both subject and audience.
Below are some of the more compelling IAMAs from the past month:
- IAmA 74-time Jeopardy! champion, Ken Jennings. (Q: “What is Alex Trebek like off camera?” A: “He’s like your good-natured, slightly-losing-it grandpa.”)
- 51 hours left to live. (Q: “Are you scared of dieing?” A: “Terrified, but I won’t ever tell my family that. I hope it doesn’t hurt.”)
- I’m 4 years old. (Q: “What do you think about the world?” A: “I think it’s pretty good, but not if you’re alone or scared or dead or something like that.”)
- IAMA Former Inmate at a Supermax facility. (Q: “Why did you do it?” A: “Money.”)
- My father married my ex-girlfriend. (Q: “The ARISTOCRATS!”)
Everyone’s got a story to tell. Q: What’s yours?
[blog.reddit / r/iama.]
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