What happened
In March 2017, Reddit began rolling out redesigned user profile pages that borrowed heavily from the conventions of Facebook and Twitter. For the first time, Redditors could post links and self-posts directly to their own profile rather than only to communities, and other users could follow a profile to receive its new posts in their feed. Reddit framed the change as a way to help content creators who had told the company they struggled to find an appropriate community in which to share their work and wanted a place to build a personal following.
The move marked a notable philosophical shift for a site historically organized entirely around topic-based subreddits rather than individual personalities. By giving users a personal home and a follower graph, Reddit edged closer to the creator-and-influencer model of mainstream social networks, laying groundwork for later monetization and creator-facing features. The redesigned profiles were one of several 2017 efforts — alongside native video, the r/popular front page, and the larger site redesign — through which Reddit tried to modernize its interface and broaden its appeal beyond its core community.