While in my internship, I have developed some great skills and traits that will help me moving forward in the workplace. However, I did find one thing that was missing from the Reddit team; a diversity statement. While some people may believe that this isn’t a necessity to grow as a company, by simply having a diversity statement, we are creating an atmosphere that is inclusive and available to all people. I have taken some time to analyze other company’s diversity statement and how we can best apply it to our team here at Reddit. When making a diversity statement, there are a few key factors that we must keep in mind:
- Inclusive: All people from all backgrounds must feel welcomed and comfortable using our platform. We don’t want people to feel excluded and ostracized.
- Safe: People should know that when they use our site, that their safety is a concern of ours. They should not have to worry about cyber-bullying or internet trolls while using Reddit.
- Caring: We need a statement that will make people feel that we DO care about them. We want an environment online that is connected and bound to grow, based solely on a loving community that can share funny experiences and memes with others.
With all of these components to create a long-lasting and effective diversity statement, I have come up with the perfect solution to help set us on the right track:
We aim to create a space for people to freely share, while keeping in mind the heart and soul of our users. We’re working to make a platform that is rid of hate, and full of safety and inclusivity. By creating this type of space, we will be able to look out for the well-being and mental health of those around us.
Reddit
While analyzing other social media platforms, I also noticed that their diversity statements could use some touch-ups. To better display the points I am trying to make, I will rebrand Spotify’s and Instagram’s diversity Statements, so we can help better understand why we need a diversity statement.
Spotify
“We’re working to create a safe stigma-free environment that is open and caring about mental health issues. But we recognize that underrepresented groups often face their own unique mental health challenges. So we’re focused on ensuring we have the right support and resources in place to help them thrive.”
This quote from Spotify’s diversity statement does a really great job of hitting all the necessities when ensuring a more diverse social media site online. However, there are a few tweaks I would make to adhere to nearly everyone online. First, Spotify immediately separates their users in the first two sentences. While it is important to recognize and illustrate that you believe that diversity is crucial, they separate the feelings of those “underrepresented” than everyone else with their mental health challenges. To make everyone feel more connected and included, I think that take out the second sentence, and incorporate part of it into the first. For instance, simply adding “to all” at the end of the first sentence would automatically include everyone that is part of the Reddit experience. I think that would change the whole impact of their diversity statement drastically.
“We’ve developed and updated a number of company-wide policies to support communities worldwide. We updated our policies to more specifically account for certain kinds of implicit hate speech, such as content depicting blackface, or stereotypes about Jewish people. We also strengthened enforcements against people who make serious rape threats, and we’ll now disable any account that makes these threats as soon as we become aware of them, rather than removing just the content. In addition, we’ll ensure involuntary public figures – people who may not have sought attention and who we’ve seen are often members of marginalized communities – are protected from harassment and bullying just as they were before finding themselves in the public eye.”
This is part of Instagram’s equity campaign to better represent most people on the platform and their efforts to do so. I think it is very important to recognize people that are diverse, more than just a race or ethnicity. It includes all people who have been marginalized. I think Instagram does a great job depicting this here. Something I would change from this section of hate and harassment is maybe presenting some examples of how they intend to stop it and what that would look like, besides simply stating it. It’s not a big change, but the incorporation of this could help people feel more safe knowing that Instagram is looking out for them.
Altogether, I think that creating a diversity statement can really be beneficial to our company. A diversity statement will make others feel safer and more apt to use our product. With the inclusion of a diversity statement, we can make a name for ourselves as an inclusive brand on social media, and a connected community. I urge you to make this addition to our site and hope that you take my suggestions into account.
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