buzzfeed: growing a global publishing network through tech, product and data science

BuzzFeedBuilding a cross-platform, global network

BuzzFeed in 2013

•1 international edition•1 language•200 employees

BuzzFeed in 2016• 10 international editions• 1300 employees• Six languages• Hundreds of posts and videos translated every week

“A cross-platform, global network”

• 7 billion content views/month• Publishing to over 30 different platforms

This GIF shows how BuzzFeed publishing has evolved…

Why a distributed model?Because the shift from web to platforms is real. And it’s happening fast.

• Original: 80m views• In Spanish: 8m views• In French: 6m views• In Portuguese: 5m views

How does BuzzFeed think about data?• Don’t be a slave to it• Re-anchor periodically• There is no one metric to rule them all• And most importantly…

Impact matters more than numbers

"Thank you for showing me that I am not alone. Thank you for showing me that I am not broken. Thank you for making me laugh

every day. Thank you for inspiring me."

"I suffer from depression, anxiety, PTSD, an eating disorder, and BPD. Watching videos and reading articles that you have made makes living today a little bit easier...You should feel

proud of your work and know that you've improved at least one life through it."

“Thank you for your videos on snapchat today. It was a nice temporary escape from feeling alone. I watched them multiple times to prolong the feeling.”

How BuzzFeed shares data internationally

• Automated email reports• Hand-crafted email reports• Slack rooms - and Slack bots! - for everything• Third-party tools eg Gengo for translation• Internal tools. Such as…

But data is meaningless withoutcommunication

• All-hands meetings for different time zones• Recordings and text summaries of meetings• International editorial co-operation• Monthly cross-platform projects• International summits• Constant Slack communication

@lukelewisHead Of European Growth

BuzzFeed

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