ABSTRACT
This chapter explains how users’ identity is conveyed on Reddit. While Reddit is often regarded as a platform that allows users to be anonymous, what is meant by “anonymous” requires scrutiny in order to understand how identity functions on the platform. The chapter draws from a wealth of scholarly research on identity – as it is conveyed online and offline – situating Reddit among other popular social media platforms of the early 21st century. It introduces the concept of “identity minimalism” – a way in which identifying characteristics of a user can be hidden or minimized, leading other users to experience the user chiefly through their utterances and to perceive subreddits’ content as a collective, disembodied voice rather than as the product of specific individuals. The power dynamics of identity minimalism and the management and policing of identity with respect to race are considered at the start and the end of the chapter.
