In the new age of a technology-crazed world, social media’s importance is growing exponentially. Buzzfeed is promising itself a prominent spot on the social media battlefield scene. The site has now gone viral and has become a new addition to the mass of social networking sites available on the Internet.
This social media website founded in 2006 by Jonah Peretti has a defining edge by being able to deliver information in topics such as news, entertainment, life and more in an interesting eye-catching way. Its headlines are filled with visuals making it easy for anyone to just casually scroll through the website.
The bright and bold headlines that surround the page create an upbeat and fun vibe. It has an audience of more than 100 million, according to its website.
The information is delivered to users mainly using pictures and graphics to keep readers entertained. This helps maintain Buzzfeed’s popularity, especially among the younger generation.
The self-declared source of “the hottest, most social content on the web,” employs quick-witted writers who report about the latest buzz and viral information on the web. Some of Buzzfeed’s most popular articles include “The 45 Most Powerful Images of 2011,” “21 Pictures That Will Restore Your Faith In Humanity,” “12 Simple Steps To Get Through The Day,” and “40 Things That Will Make You Feel Old.”
Buzzfeed’s ability to deliver news in short, sweet paragraphs filled with graphics lets readers think that they will only spend minimal time catching up on the site. However, it can prove to become a huge distraction to readers, letting them procrastinate for hours on end.
One key component of Buzzfeed’s popularity is its badges. In an ongoing mission to help sort out posts on their site, they have added tags to each post which can be found on the upper right hand corner of the web page. Badges such as “LOL,” “win,” “omg,” “cute,” “trashy,” “fail” and “wtf” are each shown in their own little yellow bubble . Once clicked on, every post related to the badge will conveniently show up letting you have an easier experience browsing the website.
Users of Buzzfeed are also able to create their own user profiles. This enables them to have a home page containing links to their most recent contributions on the site, a brief bio and a scorecard of how many times the users’ posts have been featured on the homepage or have been awarded ‘Gold Stars’ by the staff.
In this new age, interactivity is proving to become increasingly important to a company’s success. Buzzfeed has nailed this crucial aspect to its website. When clicking on an article, users are automatically shown different social options conveniently on the top. These simple buttons include the ability to like it on Facebook, share it on Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest and Google Plus, and email it or text it to a friend.
Buzzfeed is the new social news and entertainment company of our generation. It is redefining online advertising with its social content-driven publishing technology. Buzzfeed's unique qualities of delivering news in an entertaining way has given it the upper hand in the online social media competition.