Reddit stock saw a remarkable increase of nearly 50% on its first day of trading, marking a significant milestone for the company. However, the excitement surrounding the stock launch was somewhat subdued by technical issues on the platform itself. On Wednesday afternoon, numerous Reddit users reported difficulties accessing the site, with reports peaking at around 50,000 alerts on DownDetector shortly after 3 p.m. ET.
In response to the concerns, Reddit acknowledged the situation through a service post, revealing that users were experiencing a “degraded service” on both the website and app. By approximately 5:30 p.m., many users were still unable to connect, as messages stated, “Our CDN [content delivery network] was unable to reach our servers.”
Following the disruption, Reddit confirmed via email that a bug in a recent update caused the problems but assured users that a fix was implemented and services were gradually coming back online. Notably, Reddit recently reported its first profit since going public in March, along with a remarkable 47% increase in daily users, reaching 97.2 million compared to the previous year.
In a related note, Bluesky, a social media platform similar to X, also faced outages on the same day, with over 2,000 users experiencing server connection issues. The service, which boasts more than 20 million users, attributed the problems to “some technical difficulties” but confirmed that it had returned to normal operations.
This spate of technical difficulties across platforms highlights the growing pains many social media companies experience as they expand and improve their services. Despite these hiccups, the overall user engagement and interest in platforms like Reddit and Bluesky remain strong, suggesting a positive future as they work to enhance user experiences.
In summary, while technical issues may have dampened the initial excitement of Reddit’s public trading debut, the company’s strong user growth and profitability signal a bright path ahead. Both Reddit and Bluesky are navigating challenges that are common in the tech industry, and their ability to bounce back will only serve to bolster user confidence.