The Buzzfeed Era Has Passed ⇥ theverge.com

Mia Sato, the Verge:

NewsWhip data shows that BuzzFeed’s footprint on Facebook has withered away for years as a result of these changes. In 2016, BuzzFeed stories posted on the platform had 329 million engagements; by 2018, that number had fallen to less than half. Last year, BuzzFeed posts received 29 million engagements, and this year is shaping up to be even worse.

[…]

BuzzFeed.com now has around 30 staffers, says Jess Probus, senior vice president of editorial, with the classic viral content produced by full-time employees, freelancers, and volunteer community writers. For the full-time staff, nobody’s entire job is curating internet content for BuzzFeed — everyone is expected to be able to do it.

As Sato writes, the Buzzfeed homepage reads like a time capsule of a different era: big “LOL” and “win” badges in the upper-right, clickbait headlines, and collections of posts from other websites. Instead of collections of Tumblr posts or tweets, though, the articles are full of Reddit reposts and TikToks.