aw453913@ohio.edu
Nontraditional is the New Traditional
BuzzFeed has branded itself as the poster child for the untraditional news source in regards to all things digital media. Their zany posts and reputation as a platform for cat videos and unrelated quizzes began to pave their path as a media source that may not be as credible as one would hope. However, Buzzfeed is mastering the art of having their cake and eating it too.
Buzzfeed is a massive media success story. Its market value of nearly $1 billion makes it difficult to create an argument over the success of BuzzFeed. The problem with BuzzFeed lies within its credibility in regards to its audience. Assuming from its initial platform as an entertainment and accessory news outlet, most news audiences would not credit BuzzFeed as their top or most-trusted news entity.
BuzzFeed has proven in the past years one of the least credible news outlets in the media. Whether or not that attests to its original brand as a goofy, cat video imploded "news" outlet, or because it contributes to a variety of platforms other than hard news. The idea of credibility and trust being important to the millennial audience is something that they may be unaware of. Many would attest that BuzzFeed's "attempt at serious news" is a marketing exercise to convince an audience or media insiders that they are a reputable news organization. Personally, I believe BuzzFeed CAN do it all. They can be a reputable news source for political and world news while maintaining the modern and informal culture and brand that they have cultivated. I believe BuzzFeed is rebranding the world of news media as we know it. What they are doing seems to be working, and has not failed us as a variety of audiences yet.
The constant trending ways of the media enforce this new idea that all news is "important" news. With the ever-existing concentration on the lives of the Kardashians to the constant updates of the presidential election, who is to say what is news audiences want to see anymore. It seems as though many audiences want their timelines or media platforms to be filled with consistent global news updates, while maintaining a sense of what is "culturally trending." This is why I believe the brand BuzzFeed has created could potentially be the untraditional, however, successful way of the media.
No comments:
Post a Comment