Reddit is the front line for brand reputation

Reddit as a research habit

It’s impossible to overstate its value for research. Personally, I’ve used Reddit to find the best work-from-home chair, compare internet providers and even decide on a fridge (Mitsubishi, it turns out, makes both cars and allegedly excellent refrigerators).

Professionally, Reddit’s value extends much further. For client work, campaigns and reputation management, I don’t feel thorough unless I’ve checked it for extra context or perspectives. Leaving it out feels incomplete, exposing projects and organisations to unnecessary risk if it isn’t considered alongside more traditional research sources.

Regardless of whether it’s personal or professional knowledge-seeking, Reddit is consistent in one thing: using it feels like stepping into a curated corner of the internet where experts, early adopters and hardcore users gather. The knowledge and opinions shared there are niche, specific and very often more revealing than anything on polished corporate channels.

The downside of that depth is volume. Because most users favour anonymity, you can’t rely on fact-checking in the usual way. Without a system for filtering and organising, you’re left trawling through huge quantities of information. Once I built an approach for making sense of it, cutting, categorising and interpreting what actually matters, Reddit stopped being overwhelming and cemented itself as an important social listening tool.

That experience has left me with a persistent brain worm: our industry could be using Reddit far more actively in risk, reputation and strategy — or at the very least, being more aware of how much it’s already shaping our work and our clients.

The dual edge of anonymity

I was encouraged to see crisis comms expert Caroline Voaden raise this in her TikTok: Is Reddit your PR nightmare? It was refreshing to hear someone else in the industry openly talking about the role Reddit is already playing in shaping industries and influencing reputation.

Media reports of ANZ staff navigating upheaval also show both sides of Reddit’s influence. Workers used the platform to vent and gossip, which, at face value, looks like a major organisational risk. But the same reports showed staff also using Reddit to share which areas were hit by job cuts and to support one another. 

That’s the duality: risk on one side, but on the other, a space that cuts through the noise and shows how stakeholders are really feeling. 

This space – cutting through overload to surface what matters – is exactly what so many comms and social listening tools try to own as their USP. In a world where attention is scarce, the value lies with whoever can filter the noise into something useful and trustworthy. It’s a promise the industry clearly values, with information overload and demand for content curators only increasing. 

Outside Australia, its influence is being treated as a matter of national concern. In the US, Reddit’s influence has been serious enough to draw the attention of Congress. After the killing of conservative commentator Charlie Kirk, the platform’s CEO was called to testify in hearings about whether online forums contribute to radicalisation. When lawmakers are scrutinising Reddit alongside national security threats, it underlines just how significant its role in shaping risk, reputation and public perception has become.

But Reddit already does this in a way those tools can’t: communities curate their own content, pushing up what feels important and letting the rest fade. That self-sorting shows you what stakeholders care about most, and how public changes are actually landing.

The dual edge of anonymity

And it’s not just ANZ being pulled into the spotlight. The SMH pointed out that r/auscorp now has more than 211,000 members, describing itself as a hub where professionals can ask questions, share career advice and discuss the latest company news and gossip.

Meltwater research from July 2025 shows Australia leads the world in Reddit use, with a third of internet users over 16 active on the platform in the past month. That’s almost triple the global average of 11.9%. COO Jen Wong described Australia as both a mature and high-growth market, cementing Reddit as a top-five focus for the company.

And the AFR has already shown how this plays out. NAB’s plan to cut 410 tech employees was circulating on Reddit 17 days before its official announcement. The corporate rumour mill has shifted from kitchen gossip to subreddits like r/auscorp, r/auslaw and r/ausfinance, where legitimate insights, unsubstantiated rumours and memes all collide. For employers, it means corporate secrets and sensitive news can surface in ways they can’t predict or contain.

Reddit changes the pace and shape of reputation management. It speeds up how information spreads, lets employees bypass official channels, and exposes gaps between corporate messaging and how things are really landing. It also offers an unfiltered view into what stakeholders value and how they react in real time. 

The influence is already there – it’s on us to pay attention.

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