Getting Sticky Wit’ It
There’s no doubt about it, http://www.buzzfeed.com epitomizes what web designers refer to as a sticky website. Founded by Huffpost alum, Jonah Peretti, BuzzFeed relays a sort of hipster coolness, down with the masses kind of vibe. BuzzFeed is unapologetically an everyman (woman, trangender, animal lover) kind of site, a site that you’d expect to hate if you’re a political conservative (but once you’ve trolled around a bit, you’d hate only if you were a really GRUMPY conservative). The thing I like about BuzzFeed is that it’s a site that offers news without also forcing”AN AGENDA.” Maybe it’s because I studied journalism in college. At that time, we had a mantra: reporting should not have an agenda. I believed. What can I say? I was gullible. In any event, this early indoctrination has stayed with me. I want news that informs and educates, not news that leads and pre-decides. I hope you’re listening John Niedermeyer (http://www.capitalnewyork.com/article/media/2015/03/8565212/buzzfeed-hires-news-design-guy-emtimesem). Anyway, I find myself spending time on BuzzFeed, and similar sites, to avoid the editorializing that has become so standard on news sites these days. As an added bonus, BuzzFeed also entertains. They’ve got recipes and humor stories. They’ve got pop culture and videos. From my perspective, BuzzFeed informs, and helps you waste an extra hour or two. They also have community. With BuzzFeed’s community feature, it’s a small step from reading the site, to wanting to contribute, right?
… After Extensive Mental Profiling
Right. So, after taking a bazillion quizzes (maybe I failed?), which means that I ignored this article (http://barker.co.uk/buzzfeediswatching), I built up the courage to make my own BuzzFeed quiz. I put a lot of thought into the quiz. Should it be a foodie quiz? What about a pop culture quiz? Those are popular on the site. Should I do something related to black culture? After all, I know me some black culture. Eventually, I came up with the idea of doing a rap music quiz. I’m not necessarily a rap music fan. Troll factoid: Being black doesn’t make you a rap music fan. Duh. I do, however, like some rap — the kind that has people singing and then the rapper comes in, says his piece, then lets the singer get back to business. That’s my kind of rap. I also like Old school, and K-Pop (who doesn’t?). Anyway, I spent days making my little quiz. I even stayed up until 2:30 a.m. to finish it. I was beyond bleary-eyed when I finally uploaded my quiz baby to the nebulous world of BuzzFeed. Imagine my dismay when, still groggy from a lack of sleep, I went searching for my quiz later that morning, and I couldn’t find it. My first thought was that maybe the site hadn’t updated the links. Hrmmm. I’m a behind-your-back complainer, so instead of saying something, I did a few more quizzes from other people, and signed off, certain my quiz would show up the next day. Of course it didn’t. Nor was it there the next day. After a third day of not seeing my quiz in the community section, I sent an e-mail to Arielle Calderon,BuzzFeed’s Community Director. Surprisingly, she replied fairly quickly. I know I was impressed.
Jumped In and Learned This
According to Ms. Calderon, if you want to have a BuzzFeed Quiz posted in the Community section, you must submit it for staff review. Makes sense, though after several saved drafts, I swear I didn’t have a “submit for review” button on my dashboard before I published my quiz. So, maybe that’s where I messed up, not having my quiz staff reviewed. The thing is, I did a heck of a lot of work. Up until 2:30 a.m., remember? I should have been working on a proposal for my “real” job. Or, I could have been working on a a blog post (3 years since the last one!) or a new draft of one of my books. Instead, I spent three days working on a quiz for a site that curates community content. Lesson One: read the fine print. Lesson Two: Re-read the fine print. Lesson Three: After you’ve read and reread the fine print, consider carefully whether you want to put a lot of effort into creating content for FREE for a site where you’re not certain your work will be seen and judged on its own merit by the audience for whom it was created. Presumably, BuzzFeed opens content creation up to site members because, while they expect some of the content to fail, they also expect some of it to be good. Giving site members the opportunity to create content, and have other site members consume that content, is certainly an effective way to create a sense of community, and loyalty.
Feeding the Buzz
Sadly, my quiz didn’t make it on BuzzFeed Community, but you can find it HERE. If you take the test, I’d love to know the results. Also, was the test accurate, or wayyy off the mark? If you don’t want to take a test from a site that tracks your every move, that’s okay. If you just want to comment on BuzzFeed’s Community Curating Policy, feel free. I’m certainly not against it because there are some crazy trolls peopling the internet. Questions about the Buzzfeed Community include: Do you think BuzzFeed’s Community policy is clear enough? Have you ever made a BuzzFeed quiz? How did your quiz do?
BuzzFeed is a great example of a sticky website, and I’m not the only one thinks so. Back in 2014, you know, just months ago, Andreesen Horowitz fed some buzz love to the tune of $50 million, which put the entertainment website’s valuation at $850 million. Hollah! Read About That Here
Beyond the Buzz
A similar site, playbuzz.com, based in Tel Aviv, recently picked up $16 million in funding. The quiz development company will use the funding to expand to offices in America.
What does all this quiz love say about the internet? Content is King or Queen (lets not start a gender war). And, Gen-X, Millennials, and even Baby Boomers are willing to spend valuable time answering revealing questions for the sake of self-discovery. Yet, given the power of content to entertain, and even to *gasp* editorialize, what should we know about both the creators and the curators of our content? What should we expect from them beyond the power to entertain? I am a content creator. I create the type of content I want to read, and the type of content that my kids can read while sitting beside me. I’m not that hip or cool or even edgy, except in my mind. So ultimately, I create the kind of the content that I want to see. My content is about three things: diversity, self-discovery, and most especially my content is about community.
