zihaoLian

Optimizing Social Media Platforms: From the Limitations of Reddit’s Tagging and Search Systems to a better software development

There are many social media platforms, such as Reddit, Instagram, and X. Take Reddit as an example: users can post almost anything and then select a community (like a specific school such as Berkeley, UIUC, or NYU, or broader topics like ChatGPT, Google, or Toronto). They can also attach a tag to their post, such as news, sports, sales, or housing.

At first glance, this system seems to cover a wide range of information. However, there is a clear shortcoming of Reddit’s tagging system: It does not allow for multiple tags. A single tag cannot accurately reflect the specific content of a post, which causes confusion for users trying to navigate the platform.

Of course, users can also use the search bar to find specific content by keywords. However, this approach often produces strange or irrelevant results. For instance, searching for badminton within the UIUC community might return a post titled Looking for a roommate (female) for Fall 2025. While the post description might include “badminton” as a shared interest, most people searching for badminton are likely looking for information about badminton games, players, or events—not roommates.

In this article, I will propose specific software optimizations to address these issues, creating a more refined and efficient tagging and search system for platforms like Reddit.

update in 12/17/2024