Anyone old enough to operate a phone during the 2010’s should be able to tell you their Harry Potter house, favorite cat meme, or funniest epic fail video–all thanks to a Buzzfeed listicle or quiz. Buzzfeed, the digital multimedia company created by Jonah Peretti in 2006, was known for trendy pop-culture articles and monopolizing the digital media market while still in its infancy. Deemed by many as a foundational brand for the new age of information, Buzzfeed redefined modern news standards, not only producing online-exclusive content but basing an entire platform around the concept of it. Although the media company is now “outdated and oversaturated” in the current digital landscape composed of UGC (user-generated content) based applications like TikTok and Instagram and growing artificial intelligence softwares, Buzzfeed still remains as a large digital presence, even if only due to nostalgia. Come the mid-2010’s, their whacky listicles will be a household name as well as on students' computers during lecture halls and roaming Facebook group messages throughout the world–it was through their technological experience and online growth that led them to become the “second-most visited digital native news [a company that is born and grown entirely online] site in 2014” (Wu 136). Since they were one of the first applications to appear at the start of the social media revolution, it is to no surprise that they grew such a dramatic following in such a short amount of time. Through this essay, the life of the Buzzfeed company will be explored within the realm of digital publishing in hopes to better understand not only their cultural impact but their practices, systems, and developments (or lack thereof) that drove them from success to dramatic failure. 

In order to analyze the business, economic, and editorial aspects of Buzzfeed, their brand identity must first be explored and defined. Originally working for The Huffington Post, founder Peretti quit his legacy media job to pursue the grand concept of a casual and culture-driven publication based solely online and focused on non-traditional journalistic formatting (Felipe de Lima Santos 2). Both professional and innovative, Buzzfeed acted as a welcoming space for hipsters, millennials, techies, and anyone looking for modern media jobs before their regularity. Using SEO data analytics to generate content and eye-grabbing verbiage, digital native news is exactly what Buzzfeed ended up becoming a definition of. They took over the digital publishing world with a form of journalism not yet electronically enjoyed, standing out from traditional news organizations like The Guardian, The New York Times, or The Atlantic, but they did so with professional intentions of virality and pop-culture relativity that prioritized casual media and relatable content more than groundbreaking investigative articles. Their unofficial company motto summarizes it well, stating their mission to “report on the internet like it was a real place, and to tell stories in the honest, casual tone of the web” (Warzel). The core of Buzzfeed was to be a source of collaborative fun, social absurdity, and journalistic creativity. The staff themselves were youthful, media driven, entrepreneurial spirited, digital artists and writers (such as video producers, photographers, content creators, etc) who directly curated an atmosphere different from any other traditional news room setting. Buzzfeed did not want to apply journalism to technology or simply transition the way information is covered and produced electronically, their goal was to create a new standard for information production entirely–to invent a contemporary norm where memes and social commentary could be consumed just as much as political scandals or wall street updates. Taking advantage of this new informational production, Buzzfeed emerged with digital strategies of relevancy and ease which traditional publishing companies struggled to grasp when moving digital (Felipe de Lima Santos 14). 

Media startups and social platforms conceived in the years following 2010 were incredibly simple to create, causing the output of information on the internet to astronomically increase over the decade. Scholars have noted that less rigid outlets, like Buzzfeed, will tend to “adopt traditional organizational forms and mimic standard production routines and practices of legacy media” in response to this oversaturation, attempting  to build “legitimacy and stability,” (Wu 131; emphasis added). So as the company became greedier from their continuous successes, the funny and accessible source began to desire the other side of the news market. In 2011, Buzzfeed launched an entirely different branch, Buzzfeed News, as an attempt to move away from their casual reporting, gossip-magazine notoriety and into a more financially-stable and professionally reputable identity. Writing off of fads and changing internet culture was risky, and even though that was the foundational difference that set Buzzfeed apart from legacy media, eventually they felt the pressure to turn into them in order to survive in a market so reliant on their structured systems of production. 

The downfall of Buzzfeed, in my opinion, lies here. Peretti envisioned Buzzfeed News to “become the leading news source for a generation of readers who will never subscribe to a print newspaper or watch cable news show,” which should not have been impossible, but, the core of the business was based off of this untraditional, revolutionizing digital culture, not the classic newsroom styles or conventional publishing that they ended up relying on (Wu 136). Before, they were leading with entrepreneurial intention and technologically innovative mindsets–they created a digital ecosystem of creative freedom and unique entertainment unmatchable by any other brand. As much as they wanted not to be, the company was built on the fun side of the internet so it only made sense that, like with other digital native media platforms, they would “inevitably [be] associated with shallowness and sensationalism” and fail in their attempts at building an official name in news and journalism (Wu 133). The second they decided to move away from their original content strategy, the core of their brand identity, viewership began to plummet and investors started to dwindle.

The company began as a merger between social media and journalism in the early stages of digital publishing with listicles and viral seeking article titles and content. Within this portion of the company, there was an incredible amount of success, financial support, and groundbreaking accomplishments–it was when they attempted to transition to the serious side of traditional news that marked the start of their downfall. Instead of focusing on their leadership in venture-capitalist partnerships and content monetization with their articles, youtube series’, and social media campaigns, the choice to over-invest in their traditional news sector backfired and led the company farther back from where they started. However, it was not just this poor leadership decision that contributed to the downfall of the company's name. Buzzfeed became a terribly managed system curating a soul-grinding work environment ruining individual motivation and creativity. They also made a deal-with-the-devil in partnering with Facebook rather than gaining independent financial stability, and as previously stated, they abandoned their foundational principles by trying to grow the brand into something it truly could have never been. 

Buzzfeeds strategy was to post as much as possible on as many digital avenues with the goal of saturating the market so that all people could consume some kind of Buzzfeed media; not a bad idea but at the end of the day the business model is about sustainability not a quick rise to popularity. Creators were asked to complete insane amounts of content from start to finish within a very limited time frame. Ex-employee, Chris Reinacher, described this as a “mind-numbing” process, so much so that even as one of Buzzfeeds largest internet personalities he couldn’t bear keeping up with the unhealthy amount of work and pressure that was put on him and the staff (Spangler). In order to have success as a digital native media that relies on content, virality, and creative media, you must prioritize the wellbeing of the ones actually producing your content that you so heavily rely on–without them there simply is no brand. Buzzfeed failed at creating a creative environment that was in any way sustainable or motivating–the employees had little to no ownership of their work, were too exhausted to care about quality, and lacked the management in order to stay successful. Because of this, many of them lost that youthful faith in the digital native media revolution and were poached from old publications in order to maintain not only their career but also themselves (Hennessy). 

On top of the social struggles that loomed in the Buzzfeed company, financially they were severely misled. The venture capitalists and individual investors that first fueled Buzzfeeds launch, as a free domain journalistic website and platform, got most of their revenue from advertising in partnering with Facebook. At the time, Facebook dominated most individuals' digital presence with an unbeatable algorithm and incredible data collection which Buzzfeed wanted to tap into in order to grow more of their engagement numbers (Elliott). It made sense and worked for Buzzfeed to depend on another platform in order to promote itself, distribute their work, and gain some traffic when it came to user interaction and consumption; however they never moved away enough to become independent of it and failed to take into consideration the inconsistency of the digital landscape that not only them but also Facebook relies on. During Facebook's prime Buzzfeed was riding high as their quizzes and listicles were all over the largest social platform on the market but once Facebook lost that top stance in the digital ecosystem they left Buzzfeed in the dust and never looked back (Hennessy). Facebook's advertising stumble in 2016 in relation to the presidential election caused a backfiring of publicity and trust in the brand which forced Buzzfeed to lose their connection with their sole economic partnership and as a result contributed to the businesses financial decline. 

As Hennessy so concretely puts it, “Buzzfeed needed Facebook far more than Facebook needed Buzzfeed;” instead of pivoting to a more independent style of subscription based journalism or other native advertising methods, Buzzfeed put more investing into their news division with the goal of gaining more serious attention from traditional news outlets in attempts to pull their investors and partnerships from those larger, more stable, companies (Hennessy). The company also realized that their advertisers much preferred their content being next to silly quizzes and intriguing entertainment compared to controversial political coverage or other serious social endeavors; however they did not do so until after going all in for their new news division. Once Tiktok and Instagram began to grow in popularity and Buzzfeed played more into their news, virality became harder and harder to take control of and the digital native being of Buzzfeed was pushed to the side and into the shadows of the new user-generated content applications. 

This was just one of the first steps in the process of ditching the Buzzfeed core and abandoning their own brand for the “stability” of traditional news media. In this transition the “ambitions that once fueled BuzzFeed News appear to have dulled” and this once leading company that stood on top of the digital world now works secondary to other platforms because of its loss of editorial and corporate direction (Barr). The company of Buzzfeed looked for stability in a different sector of news when really they should have been looking inward to their own processes and restructuring their business and editorial strategies all along. Perhaps then they could have found more success as they could have kept their brands foundation (the playful ingenuity of media that makes up their work) while finding a better structure in their streams of revenue, styles of management, and methods of production. It was a slow fall but Buzzfeed now is known by media outlets and digital consumers alike as an outdated, unserious, and nostalgic memory from the past.

The cultural impact of Buzzfeed truly is ineffable though. As previous employee Charlie Warzel states, “it is legitimately hard to capture the cultural relevance of BuzzFeed to the media landscape of the mid-2010s, and the excitement and centrality of the organization’s approach to news” (Warzel). From entertaining Gen Z during their formative years online to defining the entirety of millennial culture to supplying nostalgic and relatable content for both Gen X and the Boomers, Buzzfeed truly succeeded in cross-generational success and accessibility, redefining the internet and digital landscape entirely. To this day they remain one of the pioneers of modern media platforms and digital social functioning having revolutionized the structures of online publishing and consumption for digital native media. 

For as many criticisms that I have for their business and professional structures, I can’t help but continue to enjoy the work Buzzfeed has produced over the last decade; as a matter a fact, some of my favorite online creators got their start at Buzzfeed such as Watcher Entertainment (previously known as Buzzfeed Unsolved with Ryan Bergara and Shane Madej), The Try Guys, and even Abbott Elementary's, Quinta Brunson. Frankly, this company is what got me to realize my love for media and digital culture which is something I am now specializing in throughout my studies at college. It was my dream to work for a company like Buzzfeed, one  that allowed entrepreneurs (like myself who specialize in photo, video, and creative collaboration) to have fun at a workplace surrounded by other passionate individuals and simply create. Even today, it continues to be a dream of mine–just now that dream will be with  a different company. 

The world of digital publishing and media culture, at its core, is made up of creativity and fun and I wanted to choose Buzzfeed because I hope that another company like this will pop up again and bring back that adolescent excitement of media back to the landscape. My wish is to see another company culminate talented and driven creators in a community like the one Buzzfeed originally created; however, this time around whoever the next digital pioneer will be will hopefully maintain economic, social, and technological growth and stability within the company from the beginning. Let‘s bring back the fun of the internet again in a healthy and sustaining format. 

Barr, Jeremy. “The Rise and (Maybe) Fall of Buzzfeed News - and Larger Dreams for Digital Journalism.” The Washington Post, WP Company, 27 Mar. 2022, www.washingtonpost.com/media/2022/03/23/buzzfeed-staff-cuts-digital/. 

Elliott, Vittoria. “Facebook Made Buzzfeed, Then Killed It.” Wired, Conde Nast, 24 Apr. 2023, www.wired.com/story/buzzfeed-news-facebook-future/. 

Felipe de Lima Santos, Mathias, and Ruiqi Zhou. “Data-Driven Business Model Innovation in Journalism: A Case Study of BuzzFeed as a Platform of Public Good.” The International Academic Forum, Research Gate, Oct. 2018, Accessed 15 Oct. 2023. 

Hennessy, James. “BuzzFeed News’ Business Model Turned to Dust Because They Were Always at the Whim of Mercurial Tech Titans | James Hennessy.” The Guardian, Guardian News and Media, 26 Apr. 2023, www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/apr/26/buzzfeed-news-business-model-turned-to-dust-because-they-were-always-at-the-whim-of-mercurial-tech-titans.

Spangler, Todd. “BuzzFeed’s Latest Viral Craze: Ex-Staffers Bashing the Company on YouTube.” Variety, 26 Apr. 2017, variety.com/2017/digital/news/why-i-left-buzzfeed-youtube-1202399091/. 

Warzel, Charlie. “The Internet of the 2010s Ended Today.” The Atlantic, Atlantic Media Company, 21 Apr. 2023, www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2023/04/buzzfeed-news-end-political-influence

-cultural-impact/673803/. 

Wu, Lu. “Did You Get the Buzz? Are Digital Native Media Becoming Mainstream?” International Symposium on Online Journalism , Research Gate , Apr. 2016, Accessed 15 Oct. 2023.