Post on 12-Sep-2014
description
The New BuzzFeed
Back Story
BuzzFeed Started as a Buzz Aggregator
But Really It Was a Viral R&D Lab
How & Why Do Things Spread On The Web?
Viral Media Science
• After collecting hundreds of thousands of pieces of content, we noticed that all viral content has something in common
• Working with Duncan Watts (BuzzFeed Science Advisor) we developed ViralRank –an elegant way to measure virality
• This discovery made us realize that BuzzFeed could become a much bigger business
ViralRank
R=ßz• ViralRank measures the “social reproduction
rate” of media
• It is the key metric to show what is getting shared and linked on the social, realtime web
• PageRank is great for identifying relevant content, ViralRank is great for discovering exciting content that is spreading quickly
The Viral Multiplier Effect
• The higher the value of R, the bigger the multiplier effect
• ViralRank shows which content consumers want to share, link, and spread through word-of-mouth
• Then our technology optimizes promotion of content based on these values
Time
R > 1 R = 1
R < 1
Site GrowthJan 2008 – Feb 2010
Over 1000% Growth From 600K to over 7M
BuzzFeed.com Unique Visitors
Over 7M in past 31 days
BuzzFeed Tracking
• built tracking for ourselves
• publishers found it useful too
Publishers Loved Viral Tracking
Network GrowthJan 2009 – Dec 2009
Over 500% Growth in 2009From 11m to 75m Monthly UVs
Currently deploying new tech & architecture to scale the
network (MongoDB)
BuzzFeed NetworkUnique Visitors
Hard to Scale from 7M to 150M UVs
Dashboard Version 1
Technical Limitations
• Only Could Snapshot First 7 and Last 7 Days of a Post’s Life
• Couldn’t Keep Hourly Data Past First Day
Don’t Try to Design Around Tech Limitations
To Fancy, No Permalinks
Confusing
• No one used it :(
Too Confusing — No One Used It
Start Over
Rewrote Tracking Architecture from Scratch
Dashboard 2.0
BuzzFeed Started as a Buzz Aggregator
But Really It Was a Viral R&D Lab
Founded By Jonah Peretti
How & Why Do Things Spread On The Web?
Viral Media Science
• After collecting hundreds of thousands of pieces of content, we noticed that all viral content has something in common
• Working with Duncan Watts (BuzzFeed Science Advisor) we developed ViralRank –an elegant way to measure virality
• This discovery made us realize that BuzzFeed could become a much bigger business
ViralRank
R=ßz• ViralRank measures the “social reproduction
rate” of media
• It is the key metric to show what is getting shared and linked on the social, realtime web
• PageRank is great for identifying relevant content, ViralRank is great for discovering exciting content that is spreading quickly
The Viral Multiplier Effect
• The higher the value of R, the bigger the multiplier effect
• ViralRank shows which content consumers want to share, link, and spread through word-of-mouth
• Then our technology optimizes promotion of content based on these values
Time
R > 1 R = 1
R < 1
Site GrowthJan 2008 – Feb 2010
Over 1000% Growth From 600K to over 7M
BuzzFeed.com Unique Visitors
Over 7M in past 31 days
• rebuilt dashboard to be simple and useful
• dashboard should give you insight into which posts are doing well right now and where your traffic is coming from
Mission
High Level Goals
• Stop Hiding the Cool Stuff!Integrate new awesome stats into BuzzFeed and everything we do. Make public views of stats and dashboards.
• Self-Serve — Use BF Tech Everywhere! Build amazing product that lets people track, launch, and optimize viral content
• BuzzFeed is the App! Create one unified BuzzFeed app that anyone can use.
The Six S’s
Simplify: reduce complexity
Satisfy: creates excitement about BuzzFeed
Speedify: make app feel fast and realtime
Solidify: make app feel more solid and stable
Sharify: bookmarkable/linkable pages
Superiorify: iterate UI with testing & metrics
Top Posts
Quick Links:
Nat Geo Explorer 25
Settings Help
New Post +
10 Things You Didn't Know About The Imp...
10 Things You Didn't Know About Hermap...
3 Myths And 8 True Stories About LSD
10 Animals That DeserveTheir Own National...
10 Things You Didn't Know About Growing...
9,4326,290 viral
5,3194,312 viral
1,002212 viral
877344 viral
543187 viral
New Ad + New Widget + Track Your Site
48h | 7d | 30d Alerts
reddit.com linked to 10 Things You Didn't Know About Growing Potten minutes ago
stumbleupon.com linked to 10 Things You Didn't Know About Growing Pot2 hours ago
an LOL badge was awarded to 3 Myths And 8 True Stories About LSD5 hours ago
View All Posts...
digg.com 27,731
22,888
479
466
454
facebook.com
jimmyr.com
popurls.com
Top Traffic Sources 48h | 7d | 30d
10 Things You Didn't Know About Growing Pot is getting search traffic for the keyword “Growing Pot”6 hours ago
Cheech Merrin contributed an image to “Growing Pot”6 hours ago
Dashboard
Early Wireframes
Early HTML Mockups
Use Your Own Product
Track Most Active Users
Track Most Clicked Elements
• Hard to test when product is young
• Need big enough sample pool
• Hard to A/B test informational pages
• Hard to find time/resources with small team
Testing Is Hard
Boost
BuzzFeed Started as a Buzz Aggregator
But Really It Was a Viral R&D Lab
Founded By Jonah Peretti
How & Why Do Things Spread On The Web?
Viral Media Science
• After collecting hundreds of thousands of pieces of content, we noticed that all viral content has something in common
• Working with Duncan Watts (BuzzFeed Science Advisor) we developed ViralRank –an elegant way to measure virality
• This discovery made us realize that BuzzFeed could become a much bigger business
ViralRank
R=ßz• ViralRank measures the “social reproduction
rate” of media
• It is the key metric to show what is getting shared and linked on the social, realtime web
• PageRank is great for identifying relevant content, ViralRank is great for discovering exciting content that is spreading quickly
The Viral Multiplier Effect
• The higher the value of R, the bigger the multiplier effect
• ViralRank shows which content consumers want to share, link, and spread through word-of-mouth
• Then our technology optimizes promotion of content based on these values
Time
R > 1 R = 1
R < 1
Site GrowthJan 2008 – Feb 2010
Over 1000% Growth From 600K to over 7M
BuzzFeed.com Unique Visitors
Over 7M in past 31 days
First Time :-)
Second Time :-(
Simpler Isn’t Always Better
Viral Tracking
BuzzFeed Started as a Buzz Aggregator
But Really It Was a Viral R&D Lab
Founded By Jonah Peretti
How & Why Do Things Spread On The Web?
Viral Media Science
• After collecting hundreds of thousands of pieces of content, we noticed that all viral content has something in common
• Working with Duncan Watts (BuzzFeed Science Advisor) we developed ViralRank –an elegant way to measure virality
• This discovery made us realize that BuzzFeed could become a much bigger business
ViralRank
R=ßz• ViralRank measures the “social reproduction
rate” of media
• It is the key metric to show what is getting shared and linked on the social, realtime web
• PageRank is great for identifying relevant content, ViralRank is great for discovering exciting content that is spreading quickly
The Viral Multiplier Effect
• The higher the value of R, the bigger the multiplier effect
• ViralRank shows which content consumers want to share, link, and spread through word-of-mouth
• Then our technology optimizes promotion of content based on these values
Time
R > 1 R = 1
R < 1
Site GrowthJan 2008 – Feb 2010
Over 1000% Growth From 600K to over 7M
BuzzFeed.com Unique Visitors
Over 7M in past 31 days