Inside the Reddit AMA: The Interview Revolution That Has Everyone Talking

UPDATE: Famous Redditors Speak Out about the AMA

It’s the new “Colbert Bump.” The new “Inside the Actor’s Studio.” Possibly even up and coming replacement for oft-sought Rolling Stone cover/interview.

Reddit Sticker (Photo credit: cambodia4kidsorg)

I’m talking about the Reddit AMA (Ask Me Anything).




Astrophysicist, philosopher, and now an international celebrity in part because of Reddit, Neil Degrasse Tyson says the love and affection from his Reddit AMA’s remain with him even now. “I feel it daily—the frequency with which my videos and writings are made topics of discussion.  And I certainly felt it during my trilogy of AMAs . . . As an educator and scientist, I was honored to participate.”

One #1 New York Times bestselling author I spoke to saw their Amazon rank jump from 800 to 400 and stick, meaning a spike in hundreds and possibly thousands of books a day for more than a week. Or ask Ken Jennings, the former Jeopardy! all-star. In what would eventually become the second most popular AMA of all time, his Q&A generated over 5,000 comments and and 22,000 “upvotes.” The result: Jennings cleared out over 1,000 remaining unsold his books from his garage and generated countless new fans.

However, AMAs are not reserved for celebrities. An AMA is a chance for anyone, anywhere to say “I am a _____, ask me anything.” The dirty secret is that these AMA’s are often infinitely more fascinating than even the biggest celebrities. Last week, for example, the #1 “hot” AMA is “IAmA Truck Driver AMA”  was followed by “IAmA Canadian Exchange Student,” both of which are averaging more than 50 comments per hour. My personal favorite: "IAmA a Masseuse Who Gives Happy Endings." Where else on the planet are you going to get an inside look into a profession you’d never even considered learning about?

The benefits of these AMA’s aren’t limited to the voyeuristic readers either. In February, unknown voice-over artist Chris Griesemer partook and saw the hits on his website went from five to 75,000 the same day. Now he has more work than he can possibly handle.

At their best, AMAs provide access to otherwise unreachable people. It’s a symbiotic relationship in some cases, with celebrities bringing their own audience and spotlight with them to Reddit. But these are no softball, blow-smoke-up-their-ass interviews. Reddits are not Jay Leno (and thank God for that). Nothing is off limits. There is no fluff. And if you act entitled to that, Reddit will righteously bury you in a flurry of keystrokes. Just ask Woody Harrelson.

Harrelson, in promotion for his movie Rampart, briefly appeared on Reddit, obviously unaware of the environment. He participated in what is described as the worst AMA ever. Harrelson (or whomever was conducting his AMA) bombed. Unwilling to address certain questions and instead replying with such answers as “I don’t want to answer questions like that” and “Let’s focus on the movie people” he infuriated the Reddit community. One user pointed out the post should have been titled  “AMAAR” or (“Ask Me Anything About Rampart”). The result was a Reddit uprising, Harrelson running for shelter, and a protest waged against his upcoming movie.

Note to celebrities: Redditors (and the world, frankly) don’t care about the things you are plugging. They are interested in the opportunity to interact with you, the person. If you provide interesting answers to other questions, whatever your plug may be will be warmly accepted. Promote yourself authentically and openly first and then Reddit will find your projects the same. Just ask Louis CK and his $1 millon. Give and you may receive.

As Neil Degrasse Tyson put it: “I tr[ied] to keep my answers informative, tasty, and succinct. Turns out, that's the ideal recipe to end up quoted.  So many quotes of mine that are currently circulating on the internet were derived from my AMA sessions.”

Reddit CEO Yishan Wong put it one better: “Just be genuine and real; people tend to be very understanding.”

In my extensive study of the Reddit AMA and my years as a lurker and poster, I interviewed and observed the purveyors of many of the most successful AMA’s of all time from #1 New York Times Bestselling authors to 23 year olds running for governor. As you saw, I even managed to speak to the AMA King himself, Neil Degrasse Tyson, owner of 3 of the top 10 most popular AmAs all-time, generating a combined 30,000 comments and 104,000 upvotes.

Neil Degrasse Tyson, Reddit All-Star (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

It became clear that the secret to a successful AMA is rather simple:


Step 2)  Set aside enough time

Step 3) Provide public proof of your identity

Step 4) Be earnest (and reap the rewards)

Step 5) Expect and address criticism

Step 6) Do it for the right reasons

From my time on Reddit, I’ve found that a proper AMA isn’t a 15-minute drive-by (hear that Woody?). Dedicate at the very minimum an hour or two for answering as many questions as possible. CEO Yishan suggests a more ideal “2 hours at least, maybe 4 hours if it's going to be popular” while Phil Plait (The Bad Astronomer) told me he spent more than 8 hours doing his, and that’s after spending 4 years prior as a reader. Note to potential AMA’ers: You don’t have to remind us how valuable your time is. We feel ours is too. Anything beyond that will be viewed even more favorable. (Good Guy Aziz Ansari.)

Redditors want to know they are talking to the real deal. A recent hijacking of an AMA by someone pretending to suffer from brain cancer, and then requesting funds for a "final wish" to go to Ireland, only heightened this demand. Although you can technically send proof only to moderators, it is best to show in public. Someone actually pretended to be Neil Degrasse Tyson on Reddit once, so he changed his strategy to combat it.

“I simply started my AMAs unannounced, then five minutes later declared on my Twitter stream that I had begun an AMA exactly five minutes earlier,” he says.

By saying “ask me anything” you open yourself up to . . . anything. Don’t expect everyone to fawn over you. It is not expected that you respond to direct insults, but when a person provides thoughtful criticism, take the time to craft a thoughtful response. Karma awaits.

If you make an effort and do it for the right reasons, huge gains are potentially yours. Not only from the loyal Reddit community but from the rest of the world, who have seen a new side of you (or if you’re an unknown, a side of you) that is refreshingly different than a whitewashed PR image.

It’s a rightfully exciting time for Reddit, and AMAs. Reddit is experiencing exponential user growth, as well as popularity thanks in part to AMAs. Together, there seems to be no limit on what Reddit, and AMAs can accomplish.

Reddit seems to acknowledge the new potential and reach as well: replacing the former AMA sidebar “Serious and Reasonable requests, no "IAmA Request: Obama!" with “Serious and Reasonable requests, no "IAmA Request: God!"

So I guess that leads into one AMA Request:

Mr. Obama, Reddit awaits.

