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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Erie Times-News Releases iPad, iPhone, Android Apps and Mobile Web Powered by Whiz Technologies

Erie Times-News and www.GoErie.com, based in Erie, PA, owned by Times Publishing Company, announced that it has released new tablet apps for the iPad and Kindle Fire, new smartphone apps for iPhone and Android, and HTML5 mobile web to its readers. Th ... Continue reading at Editor & Publisher

[ Editor & Publisher | 2013-10-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
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KODAK Stream Inkjet Technology Helps News UK Increase Reader Engagement

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[ Editor & Publisher | 2013-10-09 00:00:00 UTC ]
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No More Late News: Financial Times Moves to One Print Edition Daily

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[ Advertising Age | 2013-10-09 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Frankfurt Book Fair 2013: Working the Digital Content Space

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[ Publishers Weekly | 2013-10-05 00:00:00 UTC ]
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[ Editor & Publisher | 2013-10-03 00:00:00 UTC ]
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[ Crains New York | 2013-09-21 00:00:00 UTC ]
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[ Publishers Weekly | 2013-09-20 00:00:00 UTC ]
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[ AdWeek | 2013-09-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
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[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2013-09-06 00:00:00 UTC ]
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[ Fast Company | 2013-08-28 00:00:00 UTC ]
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[ Fast Company | 2013-08-28 00:00:00 UTC ]
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[ Engadget | 2013-08-27 00:00:00 UTC ]
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[ Publishers Weekly | 2013-08-23 00:00:00 UTC ]
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