Alexis Ohanian is the co-founder an executive chairman of Reddit, a social-voting news website with geek allegiances, a small-town feel and a penchant for lighting up the memes your friends IM you about next week.
Why you should listen
Reddit, co-founded by Alexis Ohanian and friend Steve Huffman, has become one of the World Wide Web's most striking examples of democracy in action. Founded in 2005, it grew a user base of tens of thousands and quickly attracted the attention of publisher Condé Nast, which acquired it in 2006. Unlike "social bookmarking" sites (such as Delicious), Reddit fashions itself a platform for "social news," where the readers themselves control the front page by voting stories up above and down below the fold.
Ohanian left Reddit in his official capacity in 2009, but returned in 2014 as executive chairman. He has continued to be involved with the site's direction as a sort of godfather, dispensing friendly wisdom (and t-shirts) from his user account, kn0thing. Of late, he's focusing on Breadpig, a hub for geeky books and merchandise. In early 2010, he spent three months in Armenia as a Kiva Fellow.
What others say
He is out of control crazypants awesome.
Alexis Ohanian’s TED Talk
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Culture
Daryl Hannah, Philippe Starck and Alexis Ohanian pick their favorite TED Talks
November 20, 2012
In celebration of our billionth video view, TED reached out to some of our favorite players in the worlds of technology, entertainment and design, asking which TED Talks they find themselves going back to again and again. To see the famous faces who’ve told us so far — from Bill Gates to Barbra Streisand — […]
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How to make a splash in social media: Alexis Ohanian on TED.com
December 16, 2009
In a funny, rapid-fire 4 minutes, Alexis Ohanian of Reddit tells the real-life fable of one humpback whale’s rise to Web stardom. The lesson of Mister Splashy Pants is a shoo-in classic for meme-makers and marketers in the Facebook age. (Recorded at TEDIndia, November 2009, Mysore, India. Duration: 4:27) Twitter URL: http://on.ted.com/344I Watch Alexis Ohanian’s […]
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