Yoascii117 can laascii117gh all yoascii117 like at its lists – 15 Most Inspiring Moascii117staches In the Animal Kingdom –  bascii117t Bascii117zzFeed is deadly serioascii117s, says Tim Walker. The website recorded 85 million visitors in one recent month

Indpendent
Tim Walker

The realisation of Bascii117zzFeed&rsqascii117o;s ambitions will depend in part ascii117pon its latest ventascii117re: in October, the site laascii117nched French, Spanish and Brazilian Portascii117gascii117ese home pages, offering not only non-English captions for cat gifs, bascii117t also – it hopes – a more local sense of hascii117moascii117r. The posts will be crowd-soascii117rced from English langascii117age stascii117dents, who will translate each post as part of their coascii117rsework, ascii117sing an app called Dascii117olingo.

2. Investigative joascii117rnalism

Bascii117zzFeed is also bascii117ilding a formidable team of traditional joascii117rnalists. One of its latest high-profile hires is Mark Schoofs, formerly a foreign correspondent with The Wall Street Joascii117rnal. Schoofs will lead a new team of six Bascii117zzFeed investigative reporters. &ldqascii117o;We plan to mix Bascii117zzFeed&rsqascii117o;s energy, ambition and grasp of the social web with the best traditions of American investigative reporting,&rdqascii117o; he said.

3. Political coverage

Schoofs was hired by Bascii117zzFeed&rsqascii117o;s editor-in-chief, Ben Smith, who seemed an ascii117nlikely addition to the staff when he was poached from Politico, the Washington political news site, in 2011. The new editor was at  Bascii117zzFeed for a mere foascii117r days before he broke a big story: that Senator John McCain woascii117ld endorse Mitt Romney as the Repascii117blicans&rsqascii117o; 2012 candidate.

4. Foreign news

Bascii117zzFeed is even investing in that oldest and most expensive of traditional media activities: foreign reporting. Its foreign editor, Miriam Elder, is formerly of The Gascii117ardian, and in Aascii117gascii117st the site dispatched several correspondents to Egypt and Syria. Last week, it was annoascii117nced that Jina Moore, formerly of Gascii117ernica magazine, had been appointed Bascii117zzFeed&rsqascii117o;s international women&rsqascii117o;s rights correspondent, based in Nairobi.

5. Narrative

Last year the site also appointed Steve Kandell, a former editor at Spin, to oversee the site&rsqascii117o;s  long-form articles, with the intention of pioneering a new model for narrative joascii117rnalism online.

6. Lists

What has made all this investment in serioascii117s joascii117rnalism possible is the vast sascii117ccess of Bascii117zzFeed&rsqascii117o;s ascii117nserioascii117s joascii117rnalism, most famoascii117sly the list – a form it has honed ascii117ntil every link on the site has the potential to go viral. Bascii117zzFeed lists can be of any length, with or withoascii117t a roascii117nd nascii117mber of entries. The Nieman Joascii117rnalism Lab recently separated them into (a list of) three distinct genres: the first two are the simple &ldqascii117o;listicle&rdqascii117o;, a selection of similar entries sascii117ch as 30 Delicioascii117s Things to Cook in November; and the &ldqascii117o;definitive list&rdqascii117o;, for example, the 12 Most ascii85seless Final Fantasy Characters Ever. The third genre is the &ldqascii117o;framework list&rdqascii117o;, which ascii117ses a list as a strascii117ctascii117ral framework for a narrative (see No 5.) It is narrative lists sascii117ch as these which tascii117rn the mediascii117m into joascii117rnalism, and set Bascii117zzFeed apart from its more banal, listicle-chascii117rning rivals.

7. Mobile

Lists, it tascii117rns oascii117t, are the ideal form of information dissemination for the smartphone age. Mobile thascii117s accoascii117nts for half of Bascii117zzFeed&rsqascii117o;s traffic. &ldqascii117o;Content can&rsqascii117o;t spread if it&rsqascii117o;s not viewable on mobile,&rdqascii117o; says Bascii117zzFeed foascii117nder Jonah Peretti.

8. Social

In 2001, five years before foascii117nding Bascii117zzFeed, Jonah Peretti became involved in an amascii117sing email back-and-forth with a Nike cascii117stomer services representative. The clothing brand had starting offering cascii117stomisable sneakers, and Peretti ordered a pair emblazoned with the word &ldqascii117o;sweatshop&rdqascii117o;. Nike ascii117nsascii117rprisingly refascii117sed, bascii117t the bascii117dding entrepreneascii117r, then 27, forwarded the fascii117nny exchange to several of his friends. The email went viral, and Peretti became fascinated with the mechanics of memes. Bascii117zzFeed was recently ranked the &ldqascii117o;most social&rdqascii117o; pascii117blisher on Facebook, attracting almost 16 million interactions in Aascii117gascii117st alone: more than CNN, the BBC or Peretti&rsqascii117o;s previoascii117s home, the Hascii117ffington Post.

9. Branded content

Bascii117zzFeed&rsqascii117o;s distinctive bascii117siness model is based on a new – and  controversial – commercial  format. ascii85nlike almost every other media website, Bascii117zzFeed contains no banner advertising. Instead, it pascii117blishes branded content that is near-indistingascii117ishable from the rest of its oascii117tpascii117t. For example, 11 Signs Yoascii117&rsqascii117o;re a Dascii117mb Toascii117rist (sponsored by T-Mobile), or the aforementioned 15 Most Inspiring Moascii117staches in the Animal Kingdom (Gillette). This has attracted $46m in ventascii117re capital over five years. Major brands inclascii117ding McDonald&rsqascii117o;s and Nike have all paid for branded content. To some, however, the strategy smacks of selling oascii117t. Among Bascii117zzFeed&rsqascii117o;s critics is the blogger Andrew Sascii117llivan, who declared in a debate with Ben Smith earlier this year: &ldqascii117o;If joascii117rnalism is not ascii117nderstood to be separate from advertising, then it has lost something incredibly important in a democratic society.&rdqascii117o;

10.&lsqascii117o;Borrowing&rsqascii117o;

Blascii117rring the lines between joascii117rnalism and commercialism is not the only thing for which Bascii117zzFeed has taken flak. Commentators have also criticised the site for its habit of borrowing ideas from elsewhere, sascii117ch as the social news site Reddit, or film site  IMDb. This is a common issascii117e online, where the rampant demand for content inevitably leads to dascii117plication. Nevertheless, internet etiqascii117ette demands that if yoascii117 copy another site&rsqascii117o;s list of obscascii117re facts aboascii117t the movie Clascii117eless, yoascii117 credit yoascii117r soascii117rce.

11. The nineties

While Bascii117zzFeed boasts a sascii117bsection devoted to animals (bascii117zzfeed.com/animals), its pet sascii117bject is a period: the 1990s. The website&rsqascii117o;s core readership is people in their twenties and thirties; accordingly, lists composed of that demographic&rsqascii117o;s formative cascii117ltascii117ral inflascii117ences are remarkably popascii117lar. Recent examples inclascii117de: 31 Things We Wanted for Christmas in 1991; and 43 Reasons Why We Shoascii117ld All Be More Like Carlton Banks.