Is there, at this point, anything left to learn about BuzzFeed founder Jonah Peretti and the inner workings of his Wonka-esque viral factory? Let’s take a look.
For the February Wired UK cover story, editor David Rowan notes that the conference rooms at BuzzFeed’s new offices at 200 Fifth Avenue are all named in honor of ragingly successful Internet memes like “Princess Monster Truck” and “Grumpy Cat.” There is also mention of The Golden Rules of Shareability, the gobstopper document given to every new BuzzFeed employee.
But the meat of the Wired article is about how BuzzFeed’s evolution has led it to a place where it’s no longer just a matter of the total number of article page-views. If for example a longer-form item is reaching the right niche of readers, it can be deemed a SlamDunk:
“Ben [Smith] drilled into me that if you’re doing something that will get only 50,000 views, that’s fine – as long as our piece is optimized to get all 50,000 who should see it,” says Shani Hilton, deputy executive editor, previously at NBC in Washington, and whose beat now includes tech, LGBT, fashion and sport.
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