Self-Post
Definition
A Reddit post consisting of text written directly by the submitter, without an external link as the primary content. Also called a Text Post. Self-posts appear with a self.subreddit indicator and are contained within Reddit's native interface.
Context
Many subreddits allow only self-posts to maintain discussion quality and prevent subreddits from becoming pure link aggregators. Checking whether a target subreddit is self-post-only is part of subreddit rule review. In self-post-only communities, brand content must be substantive enough to work without an external link — a higher creative bar that filters out thin promotional content.
Relevance to Reddit
Self-posts are the format that generates the deepest comment discussions on Reddit, because they keep conversation on-platform. For brand content, self-posts are typically more appropriate than link posts in communities that value discussion over outbound traffic — the format signals that the brand is contributing to the community's conversation rather than extracting traffic from it.
