History of BuzzFeed in Timeline
BuzzFeed is an American internet media, news, and entertainment company founded in 2006 by Jonah Peretti and John S. Johnson III. Initially focused on tracking viral content, it has grown into a digital media powerhouse based in New York City. Kenneth Lerer, co-founder of The Huffington Post, also played a key role as a co-founder, investor, and now executive chairman.
1 day ago : BuzzFeed faces downgrade and Amazon's incentive changes, impacting Q3 results and commerce.
BuzzFeed received a downgrade from Craig-Hallum due to commerce headwinds. Amazon's changed incentives significantly impacted BuzzFeed's Q3 results. The article also discusses landing a job at BuzzFeed.
June 2012: Plagiarism Allegations Against Matt Stopera
In June 2012, Gawker's Adrian Chen observed that one of BuzzFeed's most popular writers—Matt Stopera—frequently copied and pasted "chunks of text into lists without attribution."
July 17, 2012: McSweeney's Satirical Piece
On July 17, 2012, humor website McSweeney's Internet Tendency published a satirical piece entitled "Suggested BuzzFeed Articles", prompting BuzzFeed to create many of the suggestions, which received media attention.
March 2013: Report of Copied "Listicles"
In March 2013, The Atlantic Wire reported that several BuzzFeed "listicles" had apparently been copied from Reddit and other websites.
May 2013: Launch of the "Community" Section
In May 2013, BuzzFeed launched the "Community" section to enable users to submit content, initially limited to one post per day, with increased submission capacity tied to their "Cat Power."
July 2014: Benny Johnson Plagiarism Scandal
In July 2014, BuzzFeed writer Benny Johnson was accused of multiple instances of plagiarism, leading to his firing after 41 instances were found and corrected.
October 2014: Pew Research Center Survey on Reliability
In October 2014, a Pew Research Center survey found that in the United States, BuzzFeed was viewed as an unreliable source by the majority of people, regardless of political affiliation.
2014: Social Media Traffic Dominance
In 2014, BuzzFeed received 75% of its views from links on social media outlets such as Pinterest, Twitter, and Facebook.
February 2015: "The Dress" Viral Phenomenon
In February 2015, a post on BuzzFeed resulting in a debate over the color of an item of clothing (known as "The Dress") garnered more than 28 million views in one day, setting a record for concurrent visitors to a BuzzFeed post, which reached 673,000 at its peak.
April 2015: Deleted Posts and Advertiser Criticism
In April 2015, BuzzFeed faced scrutiny after deleting two posts that criticized advertisers like Dove soap and Hasbro, leading to an apology from Ben Smith and the resignation of one of the authors, Arabelle Sicardi.
April 8, 2016: Watermelon Explosion Live Stream
On April 8, 2016, two BuzzFeed interns created a live stream on Facebook where they wrapped rubber bands around a watermelon until it exploded, seen as part of Facebook's strategy to promote live video.
August 2016: Alleged Cohen Meeting in Prague
In August 2016, the Steele dossier, later published by Buzzfeed, made the unverified claim that Trump's attorney Michael Cohen had met with Russian officials in Prague, Czech Republic, which Cohen denied.
2016: Columbia Journalism Review Study on Trust
A 2016 study by the Columbia Journalism Review found readers less likely to trust a story originating on BuzzFeed than the same article on The New Yorker website.
2016: Claims of BuzzFeedVideo Stealing Content
In 2016, claims surfaced of the YouTube channel BuzzFeedVideo stealing ideas and content from other creators.
2016: Tasty sponsors show Worth It
Since 2016, Tasty sponsors a show named Worth It starring Steven Lim, Andrew Ilnyckyj, and Adam Bianchi, visiting three different food places with three drastically different price points in one food category.
January 2017: Publication of the Steele Dossier
In January 2017, BuzzFeed faced criticism for publishing 35 pages of unverified memos known as the Steele dossier, leading to condemnation by journalists, media officials, and then-President elect Donald Trump, who called BuzzFeed a "failing pile of garbage".
January 2017: User-Generated Content Milestone
In January 2017, BuzzFeed's user-generated community content accumulated 100 million views.
2017: BuzzFeed Ranked Second Least Trustworthy Source
In a 2017 survey among US readers, BuzzFeed was voted the second least trustworthy source among American readers, with Occupy Democrats being lower-ranked.
June 2018: The Try Guys Leave BuzzFeed
In June 2018, Eugene Lee Yang, Zach Kornfeld, Keith Habersberger, and formerly Ned Fulmer (The Try Guys) left BuzzFeed and created their own independent channel, also titled "The Try Guys".
2018: Cancellation of Night In/Night Out
In 2018, the series Night In/Night Out, featuring Ned and Ariel Fulmer, was canceled after the couple left BuzzFeed with the Try Guys.
January 2019: Unpaid Contributors for BuzzFeed Quizzes
In January 2019, Matthew Perpetua, BuzzFeed's director of quizzes, revealed that many of the site's most popular quizzes were created by unpaid contributors, generating an estimated $3.8 million for the company.
January 18, 2019: Mueller's Office Disputes BuzzFeed Report
On January 18, 2019, Robert Mueller's office disputed a BuzzFeed report stating that Trump instructed Michael Cohen to lie to Congress, characterizing the report as "not accurate".
February 2019: BuzzFeed News Unionizes
In February 2019, BuzzFeed News voted to unionize following major layoffs. A dispute with upper executives ensued when they didn't attend a meeting.
December 2019: Tasty's Facebook Dominance
As of December 2019, BuzzFeed's video series on comfort food, Tasty, had 100 million followers on Facebook and more views than BuzzFeed's dedicated food site.
2019: Steven Lim leaves BuzzFeed
In 2019, Steven Lim, star of BuzzFeed Blue's "Worth It – Lifestyle" videos and the show Worth It left BuzzFeed to start his own production company Watcher.
2019: Bergara and Madej Start Watcher Entertainment
In late 2019, Ryan Bergara and Shane Madej, from BuzzFeed Unsolved, started their own digital production company, Watcher Entertainment, with Worth It's Steven Lim.
June 2020: Ryan Broderick Fired for Plagiarism
In June 2020, BuzzFeed News senior reporter Ryan Broderick was fired after it was revealed he had "plagiarized or misattributed information in at least 11 of his articles."
2020: Tasty Streams Saturday Night Seder
In 2020, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, "Tasty" streamed the Saturday Night Seder, an online Passover Seder featuring celebrities to benefit the CDC Foundation.
November 2021: Bergara and Madej end colaboration with BuzzFeed
In November 2021, Ryan Bergara and Shane Madej continued collaborating with BuzzFeed to produce BuzzFeed Unsolved until this date.
2021: Success of Animation Lab Projects
As of 2021, four projects from BuzzFeed's Animation Lab (Weird Helga, The Good Advice Cupcake, The Land of Boggs, and Chikn Nuggit) had a combined total of over 17 million followers.
September 23, 2022: Release of Ghost Files by Watcher Entertainment
On September 23, 2022, Watcher Entertainment released Ghost Files, a documentary entertainment web series, serving as the spiritual successor to BuzzFeed Unsolved.
January 2024: Animation Lab Team Layoffs
In January 2024, many of the Animation Lab team were laid off (including Loryn Brantz), leading to the cancellations of Weird Helga and The Good Advice Cupcake.
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