Reddit on track to launch new Australian HQ

Social network, Reddit is moving to Australia

Commonly referred to as “the front page of the internet” – Reddit will officially open a Sydney office on Monday.

The multibillion-dollar company’s first presence on the land down under and just its third outside the United States — is a bid to grow its Australian audience and challenge Facebook and Twitter.

The local arm of the world’s most famous bulletin board will be lead by a former executive of Woolworths, Twitter, and Amazon, David Ray.

Reddit chief operating officer Jen Wong says the company chose Australia as its latest target after the local audience grew by more than 40 percent over the past year to become the network’s fourth-largest worldwide.

Reddit has been expanding its user presence in Australia

Currently, the social media platform currently has more than 52 million daily active users on its platform, including an Australian community of more than 700,000.

Reddit users share videos, photos, text, and web links that can be up or downvoted by fellow users on more than 100,000 channels known as subreddits.

The website’s popularity and content attract has attracted controversy in recent years, however; becoming a target for criticism earlier this year when a GameStop short squeeze was organised in one subreddit.

Reddit is the latest in a long line of US tech giants to establish a presence in Australia

Google and Facebook opened Australian offices in 2009, and Twitter established its Sydney headquarters in 2016.

Reddit now plans to compete with Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat for Australian advertisers, but the company says they reach a different market entirely.