Reddit has seen quite a few improvements lately, both small and large. In April, the company rolled out its first sitewide redesign in over a decade, shocking many.
Though the old design remains available for any who want to use it, the new design is arguably cleaner, easier to navigate, and more attractive overall.
More recently, Reddit received a much-requested "Night Mode" feature, making it easier for users to browse the website at night. Now, the platform is receiving a live chat feature, appropriately dubbed "Reddit Chat."
According to an official company blog post, the feature has been available to a small group of beta testers for the past year. Based on images provided in the blog post, Reddit Chat seems to resemble Slack more than the likes of Discord.
If you're concerned that real-time chat will ruin Reddit's long-form, discussion-oriented nature, don't fret.
Based on the way the company is describing the feature, it sounds like Reddit merely wants to give users a way to chat on a more personal level - it's unlikely that Reddit Chat will replace subreddits anytime soon.
Speaking of improving personal communication, Reddit Chat also makes it easier for subreddit moderators to keep in touch. If trolls are overtaking a given subreddit, mods can discuss the situation much more quickly.
That, alongside a host of other moderation tools like keyword filters, rate limiting, and bans, should keep the live chatrooms relatively clean and civil.
Chat moderators are also able to create individual rooms to keep discussions relatively on-topic, complete with custom bots and room access permissions.
As exciting as Reddit Chat sounds, the platform hasn't announced an official release date for the feature just yet.