Can the BuzzFeed Formula Work For Real News?

BuzzFeed, the meme-centric social news site known for its reserves of offbeat content and silly cat photos, is stockpiling journalists—serious ones. Last week, it announced the hire of award-winning Rolling Stone writer Michael Hastings, adding to an impressive roster of reporters that include Gizmodo’s Matt Buchanan, RollingStone.com’s Doree Shafrir, New York magazine’s Amy Odell and, most notably, Politico powerhouse Ben Smith. The recent spate of big hires has even sparked its own Tumblr. It’s all part of an original content effort that CEO and co-founder Jonah Peretti said is intended to make BuzzFeed the leading social publisher. “We’ve been hiring a new breed of reporter who combines traditional journalistic values with fluency for the social web,” he said. “People can share and discover content on [social networks] and email. The big opportunity now is making content worth sharing.” Surely, every reporter believes their content is worth sharing. But as this new class of journalist attempts to remake BuzzFeed into a purveyor of consequential stories —not just catchy ones—what’s to say that its scoops on politics and culture won’t get lost amid the flood of posts labeled “lol,” “cute” and “omg”? In a world where people already get news from Facebook News Feeds and Twitter streams, that’s not a big issue, said Peretti. “Consumers are used to seeing personal updates, mixed with cute cat pictures, mixed with election coverage,” he said. “Everything is combined... Continue reading at 'AdWeek'

[ AdWeek | 2012-03-06 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The Real Apple iPad Killer App? Reading

Steve Jobs was wrong. People love to read on the iPad. Let’s hope newspaper publishers don’t ruin it for everyone. Continue reading at PC World

[ PC World | 2011-08-10 00:00:00 UTC ]
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How Bad Is News Corp.?

In my biography of Rupert Murdoch, I referred to News Corporation as Mafia-like, provoking the annoyance of my publisher’s libel lawyers. I explained to them that I did not mean to suggest this was an organized crime family, but instead was using “mafia” as a metaphor to imply that News Corp.... Continue reading at AdWeek

[ AdWeek | 2011-08-08 00:00:00 UTC ]
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AOL Delivering Personalized News to the iPad

In an early teaser video for AOL’s new digital magazine, the project's lead director puckishly called it “the app for when you crap.” But make no doubt about it, AOL's iPad app Editions which launches this week, wants to be your personalized, daily reader for the bathroom, bedroom, and anywhere... Continue reading at AdWeek

[ AdWeek | 2011-08-02 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Just The News That's Fit to Read: Summify Launches an iPhone App

Sometimes keeping up with the Internet can seem like an endless assignment. The tweets and Facebook posts scroll infinitely, the email piles up, and news sites and blogs publish around the clock. That's why Summify seems so different. Continue reading at AllThingsD

[ AllThingsD | 2011-07-08 00:00:00 UTC ]
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British Newspaper News of the World Folds

After the latest controversy broke in a string of revelations concerning phone hacking conducted by editorial staff, British newspaper News of the World is folding. News International’s chairman deputy COO of News Corp. James Murdoch says that Sunday will be the last edition of the newspaper. Continue reading at Folio Magazine

[ Folio Magazine | 2011-07-07 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Flipboard Adds Industry News Feeds From LinkedIn

Flipboard, the social magazine iPad app, has incorporated content from another social network, LinkedIn -- adding the professional network's industry news to previous integrations with Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and Flickr. A new version of Flipboard to be released this morning also includes... Continue reading at AllThingsD

[ AllThingsD | 2011-06-30 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Salon CEO Gingras to Head Up News at Google

Richard Gingras, the chief executive of Salon Media Group, said on Wednesday he is leaving the online publisher to become global head of news products for Google Inc. Continue reading at AllThingsD

[ AllThingsD | 2011-06-23 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Smiths News acquires Dawson Books

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[ The Bookseller | 2011-06-07 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Food News Media Launches Mobile Magazine, Restaurant Management

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[ Folio Magazine | 2011-05-19 00:00:00 UTC ]
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News Corp. Reports Disappointing Quarterly Numbers

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[ AdWeek | 2011-05-05 00:00:00 UTC ]
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E-Commerce News: New York Magazine To Launch Curated Deals Newsletter in May

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[ Folio Magazine | 2011-05-03 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Penguin to publish slow news title

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[ The Bookseller | 2011-04-28 00:00:00 UTC ]
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ABC News High On Enhanced E-books

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[ Publishers Weekly | 2011-04-25 00:00:00 UTC ]
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News.me, the iPad News Aggregator Blessed By Big Publishers, Gets Ready To Launch [MediaMemo]

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[ AllThingsD | 2011-04-20 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Beautiful Books signs Real Man cookbooks

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[ The Bookseller | 2011-04-12 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Kindle App Update Adds Real Page Numbers

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[ PC World | 2011-02-15 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Yahoo follows News Corp, announces Livestand 'magazine' for tablets

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[ Betanews | 2011-02-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The Daily Is A Top News App But Download Complaints Soar

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[ Folio Magazine | 2011-02-09 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Kindle gets real page numbers; better note, highlight & review sharing

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[ Betanews | 2011-02-08 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Hodder and Stoughton buys real-life Charlotte Gray

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[ The Bookseller | 2011-01-27 00:00:00 UTC ]
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