BuzzFeed has become the poster child for what some call sponsored content or “native advertising,” but despite the skills of founder Jonah Peretti, the secret to making ads go viral is not quite as simple as it appears to be. Read more at paidContent »
Newspapers have been a blend of the serious and the entertaining for decades — why is it so surprising that a site like BuzzFeed could broaden its appeal into more serious topics as well as funny cat photos? Read more at paidContent »
Can America’s viral site BuzzFeed succeed in a country where sensationalist journalism already thrives? We’ll soon find out. Read more at paidContent »
In its 17 years, Slate has distinguished itself as a publishing innovator and a home for well-written news and ideas. But, until recently, it has been hampered by a lack of technology and a business model. Is that about to change? Read more at paidContent »
Branch, the site that wants to improve the quality of discussions on the internet, is offering new community-like features that could make the site more approachable and conversations easier to discover. Read more at paidContent »
BuzzFeed became a disruptive media force in 2012 by adding serious news to the silly and sleazy stuff it’s long produced. Here are some questions that will determine whether BuzzFeed can shape news in the long run. Read more at paidContent »
Online publishers are benefitting by using technology to identify what readers really want to read and share. Watch BuzzFeed, AOL and Unruly Media executives discuss their viral media strategies. Read more at paidContent »
Everyone likes the idea of a thriving website sustained by a community of local readers. But too often “local” has been the stuff of journalistic ideals rather than real-world business plans. Real estate blog, Curbed, appears to be bucking this trend. How? Read more at paidContent »
While many still associate BuzzFeed with photo galleries of kittens and other web ephemera, the network has grown into a substantial digital-media entity, and an internal memo from founder Jonah Peretti has some lessons that other media outlets would be wise to pay attention to. Read more »
What do you get when you mix the New York Times with a site best known for viral cat videos? We’ll soon find out as the Grey Lady announced today that it will be working with BuzzFeed to provide video from this summer’s political conventions. Read more at paidContent »
Most people want to share content that makes them look good — a concept that Gravity CEO Amit Kapur called “peacocking” at paidContent 2012 this afternoon. Sometimes that urge is a good thing, but sometimes it gets in the way of delivering a truly personalized online experience. Read more at paidContent »
As part of paidContent 2012: At The Crossroads on May 23 in New York, I’ll be talking with venture capitalist Fred Wilson about the future of media and with Josh Marshall of Talking Points Memo and Vivian Schiller of NBC News about real-time politics. Read more »
Former Huffington Post CTO Paul Berry is leading a HuffPo reunion at SoHo Tech Labs, an incubator that draw support from half a dozen former fellow execs. The team is trying to apply the best practices of the Huffington Post to help create successful start-ups. Read more »
Hot off the heals of his Kickstarter success, video blogging pioneer Ze Frank has raised an additional $756,000 from Marc Andreessen and others. His declared goal: To build “a new kind of media company” with a number of shows and active audience engagement. Read more »
Media people don’t like combining hard-nosed political reporting with lots of kitties. Excerpt for Jonah Peretti. Read more at paidContent »
Jonah Peretti, BuzzFeed’s co-founder, spoke at Ad Age’s Digital Conference and talked about how it’s helping usher in the transition from search to social. He said the new standard in advertising is ads that are engaging and are ripe for sharing. Read more »
The phrase “cats on skateboards” harkens an earlier phase on the internet when websites feasted on slews of amateur content. Online entertainment has since become more sophisticated. Or has it? Read more at paidContent »
Social content site BuzzFeed is the latest company to release a version of its app especially for the Kindle Fire. Read more at paidContent »
Everyone who produces content online wants to see it “go viral.” So how does that happen? Jonah Peretti, CEO of viral-media aggregator BuzzFeed and co-founder of The Huffington Post, says the secret is catering to that elusive group known as the “Bored at Work” network. Read more »
