#Reddit gets a bad rap for serving as a breeding ground for snark, rants, and memes. Sarcastic comments aside, this social platform has over 100,000 communities, known as subreddits. And it’s one of the few places where initially anonymous users can turn into solid sources for your content.
Tracking them down can be an adventure. The platform prides itself on privacy, and its members are fiercely protective of it.
You can pierce through the veil, though, and land interviews with #experts who can lend their credibility to your content. Here is how to flex your investigative muscles to find, vet, and interact with them on #Reddit.
Go #niche on subreddits
The magic of #Reddit is, if you can think of it, there’s probably a community built around it. It’s the perfect place to research obscure topics and come up with new content ideas.
As you explore, keep in mind the more specific the subreddit is, the greater likelihood #experts will be there. These digital water coolers draw people to chat about their industry and shared interests.
Given there are thousands of subreddits to sort through, it can be overwhelming if you aren’t familiar with the platform.
Here are a few places to begin your search:
Subgroup searches
Instead of beginning with #Reddit’s homepage thread, go deeper into the forum’s subgroups. Search for a general term for your topic to see an overview of the communities associated with it. From there, you can identify niche subreddits that fit your specific areas of interest in the topic. Each group has thousands of people talking about everything from troubleshooting the design press mechanisms to debugging lines of code.
Ask me anything (AMA)
The subreddit r/IAmA stands for “I am a” while AMA means “ask me anything.” It gives specialists, public figures, and working professionals a platform to answer questions from fellow #Redditors. You also can find these people elsewhere on the site. Since #Reddit’s interface can be slightly unintuitive, a few more steps are involved to identify them.
Vet your #experts
Other social networks expect you to display your name and photo, #Reddit does the opposite. Users can choose to remain anonymous, giving them the freedom to share opinions without having any personal information attached to them.
But some #Redditors share their identity and even post links to their website or other social content.
Whether the person shares their identity on #Reddit or not, you should begin to analyze whether this potential source is credible before reaching out.
Before making an interview request for someone, you can use these questions as a starting point to research their background.
Have they responded to posts connected to their expertise or industry?
If you want to see a user’s post and comment history, click on their profile name. From there, you can begin to check out the types of content they’re interacting with.
How have they responded to posts and questions from other Redditors?
Look for patterns in how they answered other questions related to their profession, industry, or topic you’re covering. Their comments should provide consistent, relevant, and insightful information.
Do they have any certifications or listed credentials in their posts?
This question is specific to AMA posts. Communities like r/IAmA require users who create posts to provide proof of their expertise.

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