High-res
How to make a viral hit in four easy steps.
This Slate.com story shows just how Buzzfeed conjures up their viral magic. As for how they do it? It’s pretty much what you would expect: they find content elsewhere. I’m all for remix culture and love the rabbit hole that is the internet, but when I read this article, it made me a bit sad & quite angry. I want to root for Buzzfeed, but I also want them to give some credit to the people who they’re copying. Especially since they’re making money off of other people’s ideas! As writer Farhad Manjoo summed up his article, “The secret to its viral success is to find stuff that’s already a minor viral success and make it better. Repeat the process enough and you’re bound to get a few mega-hits. That’s not genius. It’s a machine.”
