Endless Thread Podcast: Diving Deep Into Reddit

Ever since social media burst into existence, the definition of a rabbit hole has morphed from a natural phenomenon into a technological tunnel from which there may be no escape. On Reddit, subreddit's can delve into topics as harmless as evaluating Star Trek Captains to topics as toxic as racism, homophobia, and misogyny.


WBUR in Boston has a guide to this social media wormhole. It's called Endless Thread. 

 Hosts Ben Brock Johnson and Amory Sivertson dig into the internet's vast and curious ecosystem of online communities to find untold histories, unsolved mysteries, and other jaw-dropping stories online and IRL. 

Ben Brock Johnson was the former host of Marketplace Tech, and 
Amory Sivertson formerly worked on Modern Love: The Podcast.

Johnson says: "Our hope is that we give a more holistic view of a story that we find. I think it's really about trying to use a post as a jumping off point." 

 The show has covered a large variety of topics, including R/wallstreetbets, QAnon, Geedis, "Rome, Sweet Rome", wrestling, and homelessness.

 Here is their lead-in to a recent episode: " Dun dun... This week, on Endless Thread... dun dun... something new is here... dun dun dun dun... a podcast mini-series about the 50th anniversary of the cinematic classic... DUN dun dun dun DUN dun dun dun..."Jaws!" Part 1 of this mini-series, Jaws Island, is right here, right now, and it's all about the "finatics" (yes, that's what they call themselves). WBUR arts and culture correspondent Andrea Shea takes us to Martha's Vineyard — AKA "Amity Island," where Jaws was filmed — for the 50th anniversary celebration of the film. Through conversations with "finatics," collectors, and cast members, Andrea learns how Steven Spielberg's enduring monster movie sank its teeth into us. Parts 2 and 3 are right around the corner, so follow Jaws Island in your podcast app! (You're gonna need a bigger podcast library!) 

 If you're not a social media gadfly, then let's explain. The self-proclaimed "front page of the internet" is made up of countless message boards, known as subreddits, spanning topics from cute animals to bad Tinder exchanges.  

Reddit's myriad communities are home to some of the best stories you'll find anywhere on the Internet. And Endless Thread, dedicated to uncovering those stories, has just launched its second season.

Endless Thread is produced at WBUR in Boston, in partnership with Reddit. As with other WBUR shows, the production values are high, the hosts are as smooth as an ice rink that has just been Zambonied, and the topics lively.

 In another episode, the hosts gave us: "As summer fades away, we bring you an encore episode about your shoreline companions and occasional bullies — gulls.

"Gulls are not beloved creatures. Consult social media, where they are deemed relentless, dirty pests who steal our food and crowd our beaches. As one TikTok user puts it, 'Seagulls are the worst animals to ever exist.'

"Such hatred overlooks truths about this intelligent, charismatic animal, and it is masking a big problem: While gulls may seem like they are everywhere, many species are dying."

In an interview with Podcast Playlist host Lindsay Michael, Johnson noted: "I've been a redditor for a really long time. I was working, I think, at Slate probably about eight years ago now, and discovered this story about a bus chaperone that got bullied, and it went viral and Reddit raised a bunch of money for her so she could retire. And that was the first moment that I was like, whoa, this is a really interesting, powerful, strange platform. And basically I've been a redditor ever since."

Amory Siverston added: "We did an episode called Getting Home. And that was inspired by a post that someone made in the NYC community about how to deal with panhandlers on the street, whether you should give them money or not.

"That entire episode turned into something completely different than what we were envisioning. Because we thought we were going to be exploring panhandlers and what to do about them, and then as we read through the comments to that post, we found someone who weighed in who said, "Hey I just want to share my perspective as someone who used to be homeless on the streets of New York." And I reached out to that person and said we'd love to hear more of your story, and he became pretty much the entire episode."

Check out Endless Thread. The internet is a dangerous place, with misinformation, hate speech, indoctrination pleas, and brainwashing tricks hidden and in plain sight. Endless Thread can be your guide.