http://www.vox.com/2015/4/10/8383165/reddit-button-explained
The button began its life as an April Fools’ joke, but nearly two weeks later the community surrounding the Reddit social experiment is still going strong. On Friday morning, the community reached a new milestone, as users started earning coveted yellow flair.
The previous sentence probably didn’t make much sense to you. To explain it, we have to start at the beginning. I promise it’ll be interesting.
The button is a feature that the popular social media site Reddit introduced on April 1, 2015. It has its own subreddit at /r/thebutton.
The actual button is on the left. At the right is a counter, which starts at 60 seconds and counts down to zero. Every time a redditor pushes the button, the counter resets to 60 seconds and begins counting down again.
Only people who had Reddit accounts before April 1 are allowed to push the button. And each user only gets to push the button once.
What happens when the timer reaches zero?
No one (outside of Reddit staff) knows, because it’s never happened. As I’m writing this on Tuesday afternoon, it’s been pressed by more than 730,000 people. Because of the combined efforts of these people, the timer has never gotten below 27 seconds.
What’s so interesting about this button that more than 700,000 people have wanted to press it?
The button is powered by two of the most powerful forces in human societies: status competition and boredom.
