With Reddit recapping its year, the report has showcased the communities and topics discussed within Australian consumers. The engagement on the platform increased over the year, as posts were up by 14 percent to 430 million posts and comments were seven percent up to 2.5 billion.

The most engaged community in Australia placing in third place after ‘r/askreddit’ and ‘r/australia’ is ‘r/melbourne’. But a lot of interesting conversations spark on Reddit with the most viewed community on the platform called ‘r/amitheasshole’. This has also been carried out to other social media platforms like TikTok, where people share their stories asking if they were in the wrong. Situations like teaching their four-year-old niece a new word and questionable paper airplane contest strategies have sparked up conversations across the platform. 

The second most viewed community was ‘r/AskReddit’ as curiosity of opinions never stops the users in posting or commenting. The ‘r/AskMen’ and ‘r/AskWomen’ had 59 percent and 52 percent increases in views this year – showcasing that since last year, people sought after for more honest conversations. 

The report also found that redditors sought out wholesome and joyful moments to upvote and comment on. The tag, ‘r/mademesmile’, saw an increase of 45 percent in views compared to last year. As the biggest smiles came from posts about cancer survivors, proposals and cute sleepy baby otters.

As with other social platforms, users were interested in learning about the world. As users steer towards understanding current situations across the globe, ‘r/worldnews’ became the third most viewed community. The war in Ukraine has been an interest to everyone as ‘r/ukraine’ has 1.8 billion views and over six million posts and comments. These results indicate the interest of users in staying informed about the latest developments from Ukraine. 

Taking action on issues

Redditors focus went from URL to IRL, where they were fighting for action online and in the real world. They didn’t just speak about climate change, but they were taking action. Communities such as ‘r/nolawns’, ‘r/climateoffensive’ and ‘r/guerillagardening’ saw an increase in views suggesting an increase in action with sustainability and climate advocacy. 

What were the most popular voted posts in Australia?

1. r/mademesmile: he finally got his acorn
2. r/oddlysatisfying: Adding gold foil to this thread I came across
3. r/australia: Paying back Clive for all those f**** text messages
4. r/australia: “Jesus, we’re on the f**** tele”
5. r/chaser: Aussies unite: Can we make this majestic bin chicken the most upvoted image on Reddit of all time?

The search engine trends reveal a lot about 2022 – word games, weather warnings and war. Google searches allow people to explore what went through our minds during the year. ‘Wordle’ has been crowned as the most searched on Google in Australia this year. The word game gained popularity over the course of the year, as many opted to use the search engine to directly access the website. 

Aussies have been through natural disasters and crises, with results reflecting the tough year. Communities in Australia have been hit with floods, with searches including ‘floods’, ‘La Niña’, and ‘when will the rain stop’. Google has outlined that search interest about floods in Australia increased more than 200 percent compared with previous years, with La Niña’s interest topping over 80 percent. Other natural disasters that were popular to search for were the Tonga volcano eruption and tsunami warnings. The war in Ukraine featured in the overall top five search trends in Australia. Interest peaked in February as the war broke out, as Western Australia searched ‘Ukraine latest’ the most. 

Health searches

After years of lockdown, COVID-19-related topics stuck around, but also expanded to include searches for Monkeypox and Japanese encephalitis. The most searched questions were, ‘how do you get monkeypox’ and ‘symptoms of monkeypox’. As the Omicron variant lingers in Australia, people were searching ‘how long for omicron symptoms to show’ and ‘difference between delta and omicron’.

The top ten for news events of 2022:

1. Ukraine
2. Election results
3. Omicron symptoms
4. Monkeypox
5. Tonga
6. Tsunami warning
7. Novavax Australia
8. Cassius Turvey
9. Covid update Perth
10. Japanese encephalitis

Google trends allows us to giggle over the “Why Is…..?” questions.

1. Why is Russia invading Ukraine
2. Why is plain yoghurt good for females
3. Why is petrol so expensive
4. Why is lettuce so expensive
5. Why is there a lettuce shortage
6. Why is diesel so expensive
7. Why is crypto going down
8. Why is Camilla queen consort
9. Why is Australia not part of NATO
10. Why is Snapchat not working

Aussies’ national love for sport

As the World Cup dominates sports news, surprisingly the Australian Open was the most searched sport. Tennis was once again on our minds as Djokovic, Nadal and Medvedev topped the global figures list. Australia’s very own tennis champion, Ash Barty topped the trending Australian individual in 2022. 

1. Australian Open
2. World Cup
3. Ashes
4. Winter Olympics
5. Rugby League World Cup
6. Indian Wells
7. Commonwealth Games
8. ATP Cup
9. AFLW
10. NBL