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Key Takeaways Reddit’s next steps are to turn its “odd duck” origins into a mainstream advantage.
Reddit COO Jen Wong frames authenticity as Reddit’s core asset; the platform’s value comes from “real people” sharing responses, she claims.
Wong is targeting one billion users, a significant step up from the 126.8 million daily active users Reddit had during the first quarter of 2026.
Reddit used to be a platform on the fringes of the Internet, a place users went to for niche jokes and brutally honest advice. Now the platform is trying to appeal to a wider audience and amass one billion users, while insisting that its core advantage is still human conversation.
Reddit COO Jen Wong acknowledged that for years, Reddit lived in a strange middle ground. It was too messy to be polished, too social to be just a forum and too community-driven to behave like a standard media company. Those factors contributed to its reputation as an Internet outsider.
“We were an odd duck a decade ago, but things have changed,” Wong recently told Fortune. She added that in an AI-driven world, “the most radical thing a platform can offer is people talking to people.”
That idea is now the center of Reddit’s brand. Instead of selling itself as a feed of content, it is leaning into real voices, practical advice and communities built around shared interests. The result is a platform that feels more human than the rest of the web.
Wong said Reddit is still early in its monetization and product journeys, and the platform’s ambitions are sky-high. “The goal is one billion users,” she said. According to Statista, Reddit had 126.8 million daily active users during the first quarter of 2026.
Reddit’s strength is its structure, according to Wong. Users organize themselves into communities known as subreddits, vote posts up or down and shape the feel of each community through volunteer moderation.
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