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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Y IT

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KS • There is no rhyme or

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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STwitter @BuzzFeedCeleb

@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).

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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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