So, whether you use Reddit for business/traffic, or just for fun, have you noticed this new change? And what does it mean anyway? 

Previously, Reddit used to show the how many people are subscribed to a Subreddit community, whether those members were active or not. So, just because a subreddit looked popular and worth joining, in reality, all of those Redditors may have been simply “lurking” in these communities without adding content or engaging in conversations. 

Now, as per screenshot below, Reddit shows two new metrics instead. The first figure shows how many users have visited a subreddit in the past seven days, based on a rolling 28-day average. The second displays how many contributions have been made in the past seven days, excluding any posts or comments that have been removed.

The change aims to provide a better glimpse at how active a subreddit actually is. Moderators can still view how many people are subscribed to their own subreddit.

If you do own a subreddit and are hoping to get new subscribers, the emphasis now is on making it look busy. You may previously have relied on having a lot of subscribers, to attract more people. But now, let's say you have 5000 subscribers, but you are the only one who posts anything, and even then, only once per week, this is going to be clear to people who visit and they won't be interested, if there is no activity. 

Just as with any other social media platform, you need to step up the pace to gain traction!