BuzzFeed Baiting
How did rage become the currency of online sharing?
4.7 (19)
30 mins
Explore how BuzzFeed studied social media to understand what makes people share content. Discover how emotional triggers like outrage, joy, and nostalgia were used to create viral posts and transform readers into active promoters.
Ep 1:
Engineering the Viral Machine
Jonah Peretti builds a dream team obsessed with 'super-sharers,' cataloguing human emotion into a scientific formula for irresistible, shareable content.
Ep 2:
News, Nostalgia, and the Try Guys
BuzzFeed applies its viral playbook to real news and native ads, spawning the Try Guys and a relentless traffic culture that burns out its own writers.
Ep 3:
The Billion-Dollar Cracks Appear
A billion-dollar valuation validates BuzzFeed's model, but Facebook dependency and the pull toward serious journalism expose deep vulnerabilities in its foundation.
Ep 4:
BuzzFeed's Paradox: Legacy Unpacked
As BuzzFeed's influence spreads across media and politics, its story raises lasting questions about attention, ethics, and what audiences truly want.
Discussions (12)
Maurice
Level 8 · 8 mo agoYa.. drinking on the job and using fake names so mommy doesn't see the posts. Sounds like a frat house. No wonder they missed revenue targets.
Herbert
Level 7 · 8 mo agosurprised they didn't turn this ep into a listicle
Lily
Level 5 · 9 mo agoI disagree that they were visionaries. They just cluttered the internet with useless lists and stole work.
