FROM THE ARCHIVES: Buzzfeed is The Future of Journalism

This piece is being published as part of The Rival American’s Decade Throwback Thursday

by Maria Russinovich

If you’ve spent any time online recently you may have come across a fairly new site called Buzzfeed. It is mainly known for its quizzes, listicles, and pop culture articles. One can find themselves spending hours on the site, mindlessly digesting great articles such as Bees on the Pooorch, Countries Ranked By Penis Size, and Dog Plays Yahtzee. While these articles may seem pointless, and they totally are, a curious case has been created. Buzzfeed’s audience is constantly growing, mostly due to the funny, simple, and short posts to their website. 

Now, short-form articles are nothing new, as websites such as Tumblr, Reddit, and Facebook have been around for just about as long if not longer than Buzzfeed and produce content similar to that of this website. (In fact, Buzzfeed tends to pull content directly from these sites and recycles it to benefit themselves.) What differentiates these sites from Buzzfeed is the potential for growth, or rather, lack thereof. See, while Tumblr, Reddit, and Facebook are social media sites, Buzzfeed is not, but it just acts like one. Tumblr can be a site for posting art, memes, fan content, and porn. Reddit can only be a site for upvotes, downvotes, and brief fame. And of course, Facebook is the future of all social media and will unproblematically grow in popularity Twitter is still growing, but the appeal of knowing what your friends are doing at all times doesn’t seem to have any longevity.

Buzzfeed is not a social media site. It is an online news source, (much like The Rival American). On Buzzfeed, employees, and strangers alike can post their favorite content, express themselves, share important information, and more. However, because it is not a social media site, Buzzfeed is special and is an indicator of the future of journalism. Buzzfeed is not stuck in one box. It has already started to spread out from recycled meme posts, and some users are even posting rudimentary news articles. For example, an article was posted recently titled Putting The Rally To Restore Sanity And/Or Fear Into Perspective. While this article is nothing close to the political articles of traditional news sites, the potential is still there. At least Buzzfeed is talking about more important things than Kim Kardashian wanting a baby. The fact that Buzzfeed is branching out is what makes their future so bright. 

Now, Buzzfeed may never be able to compete with print newspaper giants like The Washington Post or New York Times, but they will absolutely dominate the online sphere. Their content is mind-numbing, short-form, and easily shareable, which will only spread Buzzfeed’s name throughout the next decade. Because of how popular Buzzfeed already is, the accessibility of their website, and their desire to grow beyond pop culture listicles, Buzzfeed can easily expand and take over the cultural consciousness. 

In my ideal future includes newspaper giants adapting to the changing times by providing more online content, and perhaps the print newspaper will be no more. News sources are trustworthy and unbiased, more social media sites are rising up, and with more social media comes more adaptation of these news sources. The internet is the future, and Buzzfeed knows this. Surely, by the end of the next decade, we’ll be able to look back and realize that Buzzfeed is still as relevant and topical. Buzzfeed is on track to becoming an online publication powerhouse and changing the journalism game forever.