Buzzfeed, the news website that has made a dramatic impact on the media landscape, has announced that it will be closing its news operations in both the UK and Australia this week.
The website aimed to shake-up traditional news coverage with their exciting blend of quizzes, listicles and news stories.
Jim Waterson, now Media Editor at the Guardian, started working as the Political Editor of Buzzfeed in 2013, it was just getting off the ground.
He spoke to the View from the Byline podcast about his experiences at Buzzfeed from 2013 to 2018.
“For the first two or three years it felt like we were reinventing everything,” said Waterson.
In the time he was there, Buzzfeed changed from an organisation seen by many as a bit of a joke to a serious news platform that earned its place among the top British media outlets.
He explained how they used Facebook and its algorithms to their advantage.
“If you worked out what headlines were clickable you could guarantee a million views on a post … for about 18 months we were the only ones who really understand how.
“You could come up with something fun, subversive and then make it go mainstream just because we understood how to hack the distribution system,” said Waterson.
He also talked about how Buzzfeed had to fight its own stereotype in order to establish itself as a platform that was seen as credible by the public.
“If you are the upstart you have to be twice as good as the rivals in order to get yourself out there,” he said.
“We also found that there was about a year to 18-month lag in people’s perception of something were versus what you were actually doing.”
It is reported that Buzzfeed was already struggling before the coronavirus pandemic, but the plunge in advertising revenues in this period is what has led to them pulling the plug on their UK operations.
The website will continue to run in the US.
Check out the podcast below to hear more from Jim Waterson:
By Alex Brinton