BuzzFeed Channel Analysis: CelebrityBy Jonathan Gordon, Carly Kaplin, Biko Skalla & Briana Rinaldo
S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications, Fall 2016
BuzzFeed: Future Media Skills
#NHBuzzFeed
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• Present content on the BuzzFeed Celebrity section within their website.
• Discuss celebrities often featured on the BuzzFeed homepage.
• Demonstrate of how and why the page works and who engages with the content
• Suggest recommendations and ideas to grow channel. Ideas are as follows:
Getting Personal
Celebrity Reactions
Rising Stars
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What is it?
BuzzFeed Celeb is a hub for everything celebrity relatedSorted by chronologically as opposed to trending
What’s on it (BuzzFeed, 2016)• New movie or album out - Kristen Wiig & Zach Galifinakis Masterminds
• News stories related to celebs - Kim K. robbed, Brangelina divorce
• Quizzes - Which Paul Rudd is Youngest
• Trending thing a celeb has done recently - Kevin G. Mean Girls rap, pictures of Chris Hemsworth stretching
• Celeb Q&A’s - Troye Sivan, Gigi Gorgeous
• Tweet compilations - Jaden Smith tweets
• Literally any BuzzFeed article posted involving a celebrity
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What people look at• Place to read more about celebrities that may not make the
top trending articles on the front page
• Sidebar shows trending articles of the Celeb page
Who does BuzzFeed consider a “celebrity?”• What “type” of celebrities are featured?
• Very few articles involving athletes - there is a separate sports page
• Royal family is included
• YouTubers
Why?The only people left out are politicians. This separation between “celebrities” and politicians likely comes with BuzzFeed’s new separation between News and Entertainment.
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WH
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rhythm to what gets shared most on BuzzFeed Celeb’s Twitter but the page is run much like the site - quantity is key.
• They are posting a new story every couple hours and some are hits while others are busts.
• BuzzFeed’s page is much more focussed on comedic and interest posts compared to other celebrity Twitter pages (Like Daily Mail Celebrity on the right). | W
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@BuzzFeedCeleb Twitter, 2016@DailyMailCeleb Twitter, 2016
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• It works because people love learning things about celebrities!
• The Kardashian’s are featured more than anyone else and are generally good for shares.
• For the most part though BuzzFeed spreads out posts between many celebrities which covers a broad audience.
• Justin Timberlake, Britney Spears, Chris Pratt, Chris Hemsworth, Zac Efron and Chrissy Teigen are all also common celebs to get posts as well.
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@BuzzFeedCeleb, 2016
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● BuzzFeed Celebrity lacks a personalized connection to the celebrities they report on
● Websites like Reddit have something called an “AMA”
○ AMA = Ask Me Anything
○ This gives users the ability to ask the person hosting the AMA any question and the host can answer directly back
Reddit.com, 2016
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● BuzzFeed could incorporate this using a thread with…
○ Direct posts
○ Embedded Tweets
○ SnapChat
○ Video
● This would make the page and content more personal
● More audience engagement
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S ● BuzzFeed could add a feature where they aggregate all of the things celebrities are saying about a certain topic
● It would be so much easier to take in our news/opinions if all of the information was put together in one place
● More than that, it would help raise awareness to issues
● Imagine: These Celebrities are Saying x about y
○ Followed by a post where you can see exactly what their opinions and thoughts are at that moment
○ It would give users an easier way to connect with their favorite stars
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S BuzzFeed rising star section
• Suggested subpage to the BuzzFeed celeb page that specifically aims to help new celebrities gain followers
• Compare to Spotify Playlists or Forbes Celebrity 100: Ones to Watch (Forbes, 2016)
• Creates a space where visitors can go to see who to follow, separate by genre (TV, film, music, social media)
• Audience can utilize the Getting Personal feature to get to know new celebrities and see their thoughts and ideas through the Celebrity Reactions.| R
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Spotify, 2016
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Spotify playlists catering to new and rising musicians. BuzzFeed could adopt similar idea regarding a list of celebrities to watch each year.
Spotify, 2016
Spotify, 2016
Spotify, 2016
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Forbes, 2016| RIS
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Annual list from Forbes detailing different celebrities in various genres to watch closely in the coming year (2016 edition).
CIT
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NS BuzzFeed. (October 5, 2016). BuzzFeed Celebrity.
https://www.buzzfeed.com/celebrity
Forbes. (2016). Forbes Ones to Watch, 2016. http://www.forbes.com/pictures/gjdm45efik/the-up-and-comers/#7d19d9fd3f01
Gordon, Jonathan (2016, October 5) AMA Schedule. Reddit.com/r/iama
Spotify Premium. (October 5, 2016).
Twitter. (October 5, 2016). BuzzFeed Celebrity. https://twitter.com/BuzzFeedCeleb?lang=en
Twitter. (October 5, 2016). Daily Mail Celebrity. https://twitter.com/DailyMailCeleb?lang=en
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