Six percent of adult Internet users frequent the popular social news and entertainment site, Reddit, according to a new study published Wednesday.
The figure was published Wednesday by The Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project as part of the findings of a study done between April 19 through May 17.
15 percent of males between the ages of 18-29 were also determined to be the highest represented user demographic on the site. Eight percent of males between the ages of 30-49 were the second highest represented user demographic.
Women between the ages of 18-29 and 30-49 only make up five percent of the user demographic for each age category.
Maeve Duggan, a co-author of the report, said in a statement that sites “like Reddit are part of a larger digital ecosystem that is changing the process of news and information discovery.”
“Content on reddit is created, edited, and shared in an informal process that is user-driven,” said Duggan. “Like all social media, it allows more direct citizen engagement in shaping the information ecology and produces cultural touchstones outside the bounds of mainstream media.”
“This is our first survey that specifically examines Reddit as a standalone platform, and it finds that young men are especially likely to visit the site,” the study found.
Reddit received 22.9 monthly unique visitors for the month of May 2013, according to an estimate by web analytics firm Quantcast.
Reddit’s own internal metrics for June 2013, as of July 3, 2013, state that the company’s monthly unique visitor traffic is closer to 70 million monthly unique visitors.
Reddit has quickly become an invaluable source for news outlets to find and promote stories, and politicians view it as a new platform to connect with potential voters. Even law enforcement has used it to crowdsource investigations, the manhunt for the Boston Bombers demonstrated.