What is BuzzFeed, really?

#1

Post by zackliscio » Wed, Apr 13, 2016, 4:37 PM UTC

What is BuzzFeed, really?
blog.naytev.com

Re: What is BuzzFeed, really?

#2

Post by minimaxir » Wed, Apr 13, 2016, 4:47 PM UTC

This article doesn't incorporate yesterday's news that BuzzFeed has missed revenue targets this year, and is forecasted to miss revenue targets next year: http://nymag.com/following/2016/04/buzzfeed-halves-revenue-t...

This is even after a pivot to video-content like all the major players in the industry are doing, which was done because BuzzFeed's current model, the one praised in this post, is not sustainable.

The viral approach is an approach that only works once.

Re: What is BuzzFeed, really?

#3

Post by kough » Wed, Apr 13, 2016, 4:47 PM UTC

Omits one of the most interesting facts about BuzzFeed: it was started by a member of MIT's Media Lab [0]. It all made sense once I started viewing it as the result of research into content virality. Internally I think of it more like a "profitable social/cultural experiment" than "media company".

[0] http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/06/business/media/at-buzzfeed...

Re: What is BuzzFeed, really?

#4

Post by takno » Wed, Apr 13, 2016, 4:52 PM UTC

Buzzfeed is about 20% of my "Hide from Timeline" list on Facebook

Re: What is BuzzFeed, really?

#5

Post by cylinder » Wed, Apr 13, 2016, 4:53 PM UTC

takno wrote: post #4

Buzzfeed is about 20% of my "Hide from Timeline" list on Facebook

I hid it a couple of years ago and I was actually recently surprised it still exists; I never see their links anywhere.

Re: What is BuzzFeed, really?

#6

Post by cylinder » Wed, Apr 13, 2016, 4:54 PM UTC

kough wrote: post #3

Omits one of the most interesting facts about BuzzFeed: it was started by a member of MIT's Media Lab [0]. It all made sense once I started viewing it as the result of research into content virality. Internally I think of it more like a "profitable social/cultural experiment" than "media company". [0] http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/06/business/media/at-buzzfeed...

The whole thing about the "science of viral content" has always seemed like fluffy nonsense to me to make the stakeholders feel like they are part of something "higher brow" and more complex than just a spammy blog.

Re: What is BuzzFeed, really?

#7

Post by takno » Wed, Apr 13, 2016, 4:56 PM UTC

cylinder wrote: post #5

takno wrote: post #4

Buzzfeed is about 20% of my "Hide from Timeline" list on Facebook

I hid it a couple of years ago and I was actually recently surprised it still exists; I never see their links anywhere.

They really only intrude into my life when a particularly overenthusiastic friend actually bothers to manually paste a link rather than hitting the share button

Re: What is BuzzFeed, really?

#8

Post by xlm1717 » Wed, Apr 13, 2016, 4:59 PM UTC

kough wrote: post #3

Omits one of the most interesting facts about BuzzFeed: it was started by a member of MIT's Media Lab [0]. It all made sense once I started viewing it as the result of research into content virality. Internally I think of it more like a "profitable social/cultural experiment" than "media company". [0] http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/06/business/media/at-buzzfeed...

Not even that profitable, as another commenter linked to:

http://nymag.com/following/2016/04/buzzfeed-halves-revenue-t...

Re: What is BuzzFeed, really?

#9

Post by [deleted] » Wed, Apr 13, 2016, 5:06 PM UTC

[deleted]

Re: What is BuzzFeed, really?

#10

Post by Exuma » Wed, Apr 13, 2016, 5:07 PM UTC

cylinder wrote: post #5

takno wrote: post #4

Buzzfeed is about 20% of my "Hide from Timeline" list on Facebook

I hid it a couple of years ago and I was actually recently surprised it still exists; I never see their links anywhere.

That has more to do with Facebook's content algorithm than anything.