The Brief: Reddit temporarily launched a live broadcasting feature called RPAN.

Bluesquiggle
DEEP DIVE

On Monday, August 19, Reddit announced that it would be testing out a new broadcasting feature: RPAN: Reddit Public Access Network. For the week of August 19-23, eligible users can live-stream to the subreddit r/pan. Users can view these broadcasts on the subreddit and popular ones will be featured on Reddit’s homepage. Viewers have the option to upvote or downvote streams, which helps determine which broadcasts appear on the homepage.

In a limited perusal of RPAN, we came across several sleeping cats, a man playing a digeridoo, someone building a model boat, one lone banana, people doodling, some video game streams, someone reading Slaughterhouse-Five aloud, someone grocery shopping, and a machine extracting seaweed from the ocean. RPAN is distinct from other streaming platforms in that its content is uniquely Reddit-esque. Its mix of random, mundane, wholesome, and semi-educational content resembles the general atmosphere of Reddit more broadly.

According to a post made to r/pan, the live broadcasts are intended to be a SFW (safe for work) experience and shouldn’t feature nudity, inappropriate behavior, violence, illegal activities, sexually suggestive content, or otherwise upsetting streams. The post also asks for user feedback in the comments section. Within the r/pan subreddit, many of the top posts praise RPAN and ask for it to become a permanent feature on Reddit.

Announcing RPAN, a limited-time live broadcasting experience from pan

RPAN Memes

Fans of RPAN have been expressing their excitement about the feature in meme form.

The hero we need, but not the hero we deserve from pan

Let me iiiiiiin!

RPAN Streaming in a Nutshell from pan

*confused screaming* from pan