Successful publication is all about the mix. What Buzzfeed discovered was that people like cat pictures. We can pretend to be embarrassed about that as a species, but it is actually a truth. So Buzzfeed publishes a lot of cat pictures. But they use the money from cat pictures to build an exceptional newsroom that publishes stories that far fewer people want to read, but it is very important journalism.
I don't think Vice and BuzzFeed are legitimate news organizations.
I've got to get a shoutout to, who's the "BuzzFeed" reporter, he's amazing at finding stuff. You have Donald Trump talking about his experiences having casual sex as his own personal Vietnam, avoiding an STD, like no one.
Jonah Peretti is one of the smartest web publishers out there. And Buzzfeed is an aggressive and dynamic company.
I love 'Another Round.' It's Heben Nigatu and Tracy Clayton's podcast that's through BuzzFeed, and they're real funny and really themselves. And I like it because it's very funny, but it's outside the realm of comedians talking about comedy.
I think the best content on BuzzFeed is something you share with someone else in your life, and it connects you to them. And that's a big part of what e-mail's about as well.
Ben Smith's quick-hit campaign 'scoops' are about as viral as cat videos. That fits with Buzzfeed.
If I'm extremely bored and I don't have a book with me and I'm being an obnoxious teenager, I'll read 'BuzzFeed' on my phone. But even that just leaves me feeling icky because I think for some reason my comfort zone is to just not really be in the loop about stuff like awards shows or things like that.
I've been super impressed with what BuzzFeed has done on Facebook with inspiring list posts and on Twitter with political scoops, but YouTube is a giant social platform that has its own quirks and oddities and will require some new approaches.
One of the things that is counterintuitive about BuzzFeed is that there's not a natural corollary to what we're doing because it isn't possible to distribute content through word-of-mouth in print.
I like BuzzFeed, and I understand the pressure that online reporters are under. But I think everyone agrees that, despite all the awesome kitten gifs, they're still obligated to be skeptical of government officials and ask the right questions.
The album [Blaxistential crisis] artwork is by a friend of mine who is a brilliant artist named Sara Pocock. We've been friends for a couple of years and she worked with me on the animation. I believe she's still working over at BuzzFeed.
