
The Eternal Return of BuzzFeed - samclemens
http://www.theatlantic.com/features/archive/2015/04/the-eternal-return-of-buzzfeed/390270/?single_page=true
======
Yhippa
I banned Buzzfeed as much as I could from Twitter and Facebook. This article
made me warm up to them again for a bit so I went to their homepage. After the
main content here's a few of the top articles as I see them:

    
    
      Which Porn Star Should You Date? (Get ready for your big D…ate)
      12 Gross Smells Every City-Dweller Can Relate To
      20 Times Disney Accurately Described Course Registration
      This 11-Year-Old Kid Produces His Own Music And It’s Insane
      The One Big Clue Bruce Wayne Gave Gotham That He Was Batman
      21 Celebrities That Defintiely Put The “F” In DILF
    

I must be getting old. This is some low-value (but I'm sure highly profitable)
content that is good for 99% of the web but me.

------
vonklaus
Buzzfeed is disrupting the news/entertainment industry and has found an
extremely effective way to entice readers and promote virility among its
stories and videos. In any other context people would champion this sort of
strategy. Extreme growth hacking coupled with a psychological approach to user
acquisition.

I am not a regular buzzfeed reader, but I have tried to become less cynical
about the company. They really are the best at what they do. Hopefully with
Dixon's $50mm investment via AH, the company will focus a little more on
content.

~~~
markdown
> In any other context people would champion this sort of strategy.

Context is important. A middle-school teacher who finds their kids aren't
paying attention during a presentation might attract more interest by
including a few porn slides. Imagine the virility through the school. There
might be an increase in "user acquisition" using this "psychological
approach".

At the end of the day, it's horseshit. Fucking horseshit.

~~~
vonklaus
look, i'm not here to champion buzzfeed. Context is important, but to be clear
I wouldn't compare buzzfeed to sexually assaulting a classroom full of minors.

~~~
A_COMPUTER
He didn't, because that's not sexual assault. Also because it was an analogy
about using titillation.

------
oldmanjay
Expound endlessly on the virtues of buzzfeed's journalism if you must. It
cannot remove the stench of native advertisement. I will give them no
intentional clicks.

