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Steve Huffman

Not to be confused with Steve Hoffman.
For the Ohio politician, see Steve Huffman (politician).

Steve Huffman (born November 12, 1983), better known on Reddit as spez, is an American web developer and the co-founder and current CEO of content sharing website Reddit.[2][3] More recently, he also participated in co-founding the airfare search-engine site Hipmunk.[4][5]

Steve Huffman
Web Summit 2017 - Centre Stage Day 2 CG1 7885 (38232183112).jpg
Huffman at Web Summit 2017
Born (1983-11-12) November 12, 1983 (age 34)
Other names spez[1]
Education Computer Science
Alma mater University of Virginia
Occupation Co-founder and CEO of Reddit

Contents

Early life and educationEdit

Steve Huffman grew up in Warrenton, Virginia.[6] At age 8, he began programming computers.[6] He graduated in 2001 from Wakefield School in The Plains, Virginia.[7] At the University of Virginia (UVA), he studied computer science, graduating in 2005.[6][8]

CareerEdit

After graduating, Huffman teamed up with classmate Alexis Ohanian to start Reddit, which was initially funded by Y Combinator,[8] in 2005. Reddit was acquired by Condé Nast in 2006.[9]

In 2010, Huffman teamed up with Adam Goldstein to create the travel site Hipmunk, with funding also from Y Combinator.[4][5] In 2011, Huffman was named to Inc. magazine's 30 under 30 list.[10] Huffman is the instructor for "CS253: Web Development", an e-learning course that began on April 2012 offered by online education provider Udacity.[11]

In 2014 Huffman said that his decision to sell Reddit had been a mistake, and that the site's growth had exceeded his expectations.[12] On July 10, 2015, after Ellen Pao's resignation, Huffman was appointed CEO of Reddit.[3]

Shortly after being appointed CEO of Reddit in 2015, Huffman said that some controversial communities should not be on Reddit, writing that "neither Alexis nor I created reddit to be a bastion of free speech, but rather as a place where open and honest discussion can happen."[13] Huffman later stated while Reddit had not been created as a "bastion of free speech," the concept "is important to us." This in contrast with a 2012 interview in which Alexis Ohanian verbatim described Reddit as a "bastion of free speech."[14][15] Huffman later created new policies that would require users to opt into seeing some content, and blocking material that encourages "Systematic and/or continued actions to torment or demean someone." [16][17][18]

Personal lifeEdit

Steve Huffman is a prepper.[19]

ReferencesEdit

  1. ^ Huffman, Steve (1 November 2017). "Time for my quarterly inquisition. Reddit CEO here, AMA". reddit.com. /r/announcements: Reddit. Archived from the original on 2 November 2017. Retrieved 22 November 2017. 
  2. ^ "Three Years After Their Acquisition, Reddit Founders Move On". Techcrunch. 2009-10-27. 
  3. ^ a b Issac, Mike (July 10, 2015). "Ellen Pao Is Stepping Down as Reddit's Chief". New York Times. Retrieved July 10, 2015. 
  4. ^ a b "About Hipmunk". Hipmunk. 2010-08-01. 
  5. ^ a b Leena Rao (2010-08-01). "Reddit Co-Founder Dips Back Into Y Combinator With Travel Startup Hipmunk". 
  6. ^ a b c Jaffee, Michelle Koidin (Fall 2014). "The Voice of His Generation". Virginia. Retrieved 13 March 2018. 
  7. ^ "The Odyssey of an Alum". Wakefield School. 3 May 2016. Retrieved 13 March 2018. 
  8. ^ a b Zak Richards. "Unleashing High-Profile, High-Profit Websites". 
  9. ^ "Condé Nast/Wired Acquires Reddit". 2006-10-31. 
  10. ^ "Adam Goldstein and Steve Huffman, Founders of Hipmunk". Inc.com. 2011-06-27. 
  11. ^ "Udacity CS253 Web Application Engineering". 2012-04-01. Archived from the original on 2012-04-23. Retrieved 2012-04-22. 
  12. ^ Matthew Hall (10 Dec 2014). "'Atrocious, mobile sucks': Reddit co-founder Steve Huffman on what site has become". The Age. 
  13. ^ "New CEO: Some People on Reddit 'Shouldn't Be Here at All'". Re/Code. 14 Jul 2015. 
  14. ^ "Reddit Co-Founder Alexis Ohanian's Rosy Outlook On The Future of Politics". 
  15. ^ "Reddit CEO: This site is not 'a bastion of free speech'". 
  16. ^ "Let's talk content. AMA. : announcements". reddit. 
  17. ^ "Reddit CEO Steve Huffman Is Cracking Down On Hateful Content". Fast Company. 
  18. ^ Trisha Thadani, USA TODAY (16 July 2015). "Reddit CEO to discuss site's values, policies in AMA today". USA TODAY. 
  19. ^ Osnos, Evan (30 January 2017). "Doomsday Prep for the Super-Rich". The New Yorker. Retrieved 23 January 2017. 

External linksEdit

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