7 Reasons Why Buzzfeed Works
1. The listicle format
“Listicles” are list articles. You see them everywhere: 11 Health Benefits From Eating Mcdonalds, 24 DIY Projects That Your Cat Can Do At Home, 17 Reasons to Learn Underwater Basket Weaving. Their titles are snappy yet formulaic. Popular sites like Buzzfeed and Cracked are almost exclusively known for their listicles, which are a fairly recent but rapidly-spreading phenomenon in journalism and blogging.
Sites which rely on listicles tend to be labeled as “lazy journalism”, because they can be written so quickly, often lack solid content when the extra spacing and images are taken away, and are an easy way to generate views (Lawlor, A., 2013).
In reality, only about a quarter of Buzzfeed’s total publications are listicles, but they’re also the most popular. As of April 24, 2016, eleven out of their top twenty trending posts right now are listicles, with four being quizzes, and the remaining five being actual articles.
Buzzfeed in particular has perfected the art of creating eye-catching titles which get more clicks. They rarely use even, boring-sounding numbers like 8 or 12 for their listicles. Out of 15,656 Buzzfeed listicles published before 2015, the numbers 15, 17, and 22 were the most popular, with odd numbered listicles gaining more views on average (Woolf, M., 2015). The use of emotive keywords such as “new”, “best”, “amazing”, etc, in their titles offer further encouragement for readers to click.
These titles, combined with the insubstantial nature of listicles themselves, are a primary reason why Buzzfeed content is labeled as “clickbait”: where the primary purpose becomes attracting clicks rather than providing quality content.
2. Short and readable
It’s a reasonable assumption that the more readable something is, the more easily someone can share it. The more people share something, the more popular it will be.
Along with the catchy listicle format, Buzzfeed’s actual articles tend to feel more readable than more traditional journalism you see in something like the South China Morning Post or the New York Times.
The Flesch-Kincaid readability test takes into account the syllable count and average sentence length of a piece of text, and gives a readability score out of 120. The higher the score, the more readable something is. We applied this readability test to three articles from Buzzfeed, SCMP, and NY Times, all randomly chosen from the front page and written between April 20-24, 2016.
See below for links to each article, and the website used to calculate readability.
On average, Buzzfeed articles (not including listicles) score higher for readability, though not significantly. Likely, it is not Buzzfeed’s actual articles that led to its rapid popularization, but its pseudo-publications: listicles and quizzes, many of which score for readability well into the high 80s.
3. Visually interesting
Images are vital to Buzzfeed’s format. Below, observe three listicles with only text, and all their visuals removed.
Buzzfeed articles with images taken out
(See below for links to each listicle).
These are extreme examples, where textual content might be as low as possible for a listicle, but the point being made is obvious (and funny).
Buzzfeed often relies heavily on bright and appealing visuals to give their listicles substance, and once those are removed, the lack of actual reading material becomes clear. Without images, many of their listicles become incomprehensible. Although listicles may be the most popular and objectively entertaining of their publications, list-ARTICLES might be too generous a label when “The 19 Worst Things Ever” is basically “This” repeated nineteen times.
4. Decreasing attention span
The average attention span of a human being dropped from 12 seconds to 8 seconds between 2000 to 2012 (Microsoft, 2015). Much of this can be explained by the internet, which has developed a culture of instant gratification. In 2012, a study of 6.7 million internet users found that after 10 seconds of waiting for a video to load, over 50% of viewers would abandon the site (Sitaraman, R.K., 2012).
Websites like Buzzfeed contribute to this culture. And because things no longer hold our attention as easily, Buzzfeed, which is click-baity, readable, and visual, is far more attractive than it would have been 50 years ago, when an internet culture was virtually non-existent.
5. Personal and inclusive
Buzzfeed has a strong liberal stance that is popular among the increasingly liberal-minded community on the internet. They frequently publish articles on issues such as LGBT and racial rights. Buzzfeed also has a section called Buzzfeed LGBT that is dedicated to publishing articles regarding LGBT rights and has a masthead list is made up entirely out of people who identify as non-heterosexual.
6. Frequent uploads
Buzzfeed are always producing new material, and as such are always up to date. On average, Buzzfeed publishes 373 pieces of editorial content per day. Buzzfeed’s publishing volume is comparable to the publishing volume of prominent news sites, such as the New York Times (350 pieces per day) and Forbes (400 pieces per day). Buzzfeed, however, has a significantly smaller editorial team, with only 100 staff members, when compared to New York Times and Forbes, who both have over a 1000 staff members. This again brings up the question of quality versus quantity.
7. Effective use of social media
Buzzfeed has a strong presence on other social media outlets such as Youtube (BuzzfeedVideo, and its various branches), Facebook (Buzzfeed News, Buzzfeed Food, Buzzfeed Quiz, etc), and Twitter (@Buzzfeed), where they promote their main website. Every time a Buzzfeed article is uploaded on the main site, it’s also tweeted, posted, and shared across multiple other platforms. This way, they can appeal to a wider audience and attract a greater number of views.
Notes
Flesch-Kincaid readability test
Formula
206.835 - 1.015*(total words / total sentences) - 84.6*(total syllables/total words)
Website used to calculate readability*
WebpageFX. (2016). The Readability Test Tool. Retrieved April 25, 2016, from http://www.webpagefx.com/tools/read-able/.
*Navigational text was discounted from the readability test, and (as much as possible) only the articles themselves were tested.
Readability of articles
Buzzfeed
Article 1: 61.2
I Went Home To Nepal A Year After A Devastating Earthquake And It Broke My Heart
https://www.buzzfeed.com/anupkaphle/i-went-home-to-nepal-a-year-after-a-devastating-earthquake-a#.awnMvyW7j
Article 2: 58.3
These Reporters Are Struggling To Adjust To Life After Covering Death
https://www.buzzfeed.com/karlazabludovsky/these-reporters-are-struggling-to-adjust-to-life-after-cover#.haarXzw4v
Article 3: 76.1
Donald Trump Thinks Men Who Change Diapers Are Acting “Like The Wife”
https://www.buzzfeed.com/andrewkaczynski/donald-trump-thinks-men-who-change-diapers-are-acting-like-t#.csLolBJgb
South China Morning Post
Article 1: 41.4
Peaceful calls for Hong Kong independence are protected by Bill of Rights, ex-top prosecutor says
http://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/politics/article/1938273/peaceful-calls-hong-kong-independence-are-protected-bill
Article 2: 32.2
Hong Kong Polytechnic University move to set up two offshore firms ‘contravened guidelines of institution and funding body’
http://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/politics/article/1938265/hong-kong-polytechnic-university-move-set-two-offshore-firms
Article 3: 56.7
Why 1,800 tigers are in a rundown China park: to be made into wine
http://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/travel-leisure/article/1937522/why-1800-tigers-are-rundown-china-park-be
New York Times
Article 1: 49.2
U.S. Cyberattacks Target ISIS in a New Line of Combat
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/25/us/politics/us-directs-cyberweapons-at-isis-for-first-time.html?_r=0
Article 2: 38.4
Europe Says U.S. Regulations Keeping It From Trade With Iran
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/22/world/middleeast/europe-says-us-regulations-keeping-it-from-trade-with-iran.html
Article 3: 53.1
Israel Frees Palestinian Girl, 12, Who Tried to Stab Guard
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/25/world/middleeast/israel-frees-palestinian-girl-12-who-tried-to-stab-guard.html
Sources used
Buzzfeed. (2016). Buzzfeed LGBT. Retrieved April 28, 2016, from https://www.buzzfeed.com/lgbt.
Lawlor, A. (2013). 5 ways the listicle is changing journalism. The Guardian. Retrieved April 24, 2016, from http://www.theguardian.com/media-network/media-network-blog/2013/aug/12/5-ways-listicle-changing-journalism.
Microsoft. (2015). Attention spans. Retrieved April 24, 2016, from https://advertising.microsoft.com/en/WWDocs/User/display/cl/researchreport/31966/en/microsoft-attention-spans-research-report.pdf.
Sitaraman, R.K. (2012). Video Stream Quality Impacts Viewer Behavior. Massachusetts: University of Massachusetts Amherst Press. Retrieved April 25, 2016, from https://people.cs.umass.edu/~ramesh/Site/HOME_files/imc208-krishnan.pdf
Sternberg, J. (2013). Who’s Winning at Volume in Publishing? Retrieved April 27, 2016, from http://digiday.com/publishers/whos-winning-at-volume-in-publishing/.
Tumblr. (2014). Buzzfeed Minus GIFs. Retrieved April 28, 2016, from http://buzzfeedminusgifs.tumblr.com/.
Wikipedia. (2016). Flesch-Kincaid readability tests. Retrieved April 20, 2016, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flesch%E2%80%93Kincaid_readability_tests.
Woolf, M. (2015). Quantifying the Clickbait and Linkbait in Buzzfeed Article titles. Retrieved April 25, 2016, from http://minimaxir.com/2015/01/linkbait/.
Articles without Images
n.d. (2014). 15 Reasons Why Things. Buzzfeed. Retrieved April 25, 2016, from https://www.buzzfeed.com/15-reasons-why-things.
Chack, E. (2014). 21 Oddly Satisfying GIFs You Won’t Be Able To Stop Watching. Buzzfeed. Retrieved April 25, 2016, from http://www.buzzfeed.com/erinchack/oddly-satisying-gifs-you-wont-be-able-to-stop-watching#.igA6V1KKZD.
Misener, J. (2013). The 19 Worst Things Ever. Buzzfeed. Retrieved April 25, 2016, from http://www.buzzfeed.com/jessicamisener/the-19-worst-things-ever#.pqPAZ4yyDo.
