Reddit launches Upvoted, a stand-alone site for original content

Online community Reddit on Tuesday launched Upvoted, a stand-alone website to house original content inspired by or related to posts from the expansive online forum.

In a post published to Upvoted, Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian described the new site as a “hub to give the stories of Reddit -- from the seemingly ordinary to extraordinary -- the creative space to expand, breathe, and grow.”

Stories that currently appear on Upvoted include a curation of first-person anecdotes about suicide taken from a Reddit thread, a Q&A that had its beginnings on Reddit with the webmaster of a cult, and an original profile of a video game developer.

According to Ohanian, Upvoted is a natural extension of Reddit’s attempts to curate and promote content created by Reddit users. Earlier this year, it launched a podcast called Upvoted, and in April it launched a newsletter with the same name to surface popular content.

The new site may also create new advertising opportunities for Reddit, which has long struggled to attract advertisers despite its large number of users. Critics of the forum have in the past noted that parts of Reddit that house inflammatory content have been known to scare off advertisers who don’t want their brands associated with contentious material.

Twitter: @traceylien