What is Reddit iAmA?

One of the very fascinating properties of the internet is the connectivity and the reach. Celebrities and common people can connect and be on the same platform as never before. People from different cultures and nations can mingle freely and learn more about each other.

An interesting online property called Reddit IAmA facilitates this more than anything. Here you can meet a range of people; from a death row survivor to Stan Lee, and literally ask them anything.

Reddit calls itself the front page of the internet. While it may not be that popular in India yet, Reddit can definitely be called one of the most prominent social news websites in the world. It works like a bulletin board system. The users post news items, pictures, opinions etc. on to the page and are either downvoted or upvoted by the others.

There are many different categories called subreddits, like science, politics, worldnews, WTF etc. and posts are posted in them accordingly. They all have active users who are constantly updating any news.

IAmA: What and How

But one of the most celebrated subreddits is called /r/IAmA. It is described as “where the mundane becomes fascinating and the outrageous suddenly seems normal”. In this anyone can put a post saying “I am a ....” and users can ask them anything.

It can be anything noteworthy that you have done, any unusual thing about you that others might want to know about, or if you are a celebrity. Recently many international celebrities have done this and it has made a lot of newsbuzz.

Advantages of Reddit IAmA

Reddit IAmA is a very interesting page especially for celebrities or personalities of interest. It gives them a lot of publicity and free, almost direct interaction with their fans. It generates a LOT of traffic and gives a huge boost to the person in terms of visibility.

It is an open forum to ask and answer questions. The celebs usually give a time frame wherein they will come online and answer all questions. And they usually do answer most things ranging from private to professional life.

Another point is that you have to provide proof about your story or your claim to be a certain celebrity. If you are not comfortable giving out personal info in a public space, you can just send it to the moderators, and they can approve of your claim. This makes it almost certain that the story you are sharing is not false.

Better than a Twitter chat

A Reddit IAmA is different than simply chatting with a celebrity on Twitter. First of all, there are no character. So you need not limit yourself to 140 characters.

Secondly even if you are not a celebrity, but you have something interesting to share, Reddit will be interested. This is not possible on Twitter or Facebook, where you are limited to your friends or followers. Here is a platform solely for presenting your remarkable story and asking others to “ask me anything” (AMA) about it. There are one to one conversations, and people are usually very respectful to the poster.

But the users will not encourage you if you are there to promote just a particular product or event. They want to know more about you, and as it says, they can ask you about anything. Remember you are going into the general public and you must face what they are saying about you.

Guidelines

The guidelines are very simple. You make a post on Reddit stating who you are, or what is interesting about you. Give an interesting title to the post, and the rest of your story can go into your post. You can provide pictures to substantiate your claim or story. And then just answer the questions which come your way!

Some of the abbreviations are:

IAmA = I Am A...

AMA=Ask Me Anything

AMAA= Ask Me Almost Anything

Some popular IAmAs

President Obama

There is something in the words “I am Barack Obama, President of the United States – Ask Me Anything” which makes it really cool.

PSY of Gangnam Style fame

The extremely popular singer made an appearance as well. Turns out his inspiration is Freddie Mercury and thinks that Americans not taking off their shoes indoors is weird!

Deadmau5

A Holocaust victim

This makes for a chilling read, and someone you probably could never have otherwise spoken to.