7 Reasons Why BuzzFeed is the Cancer of the Internet
Buzzfeed headquarters in Los Angeles, California. (Jay L. Clendenin/Los Angeles Times/MCT)
May 19, 2014
Every time I scroll down my newsfeed on Facebook – which is regrettably often these days – I end up seeing quite a few links to a site I am sure we are all familiar with: BuzzFeed.
Just the vile name makes me cringe with disgust and abhorrence. Although I started this article with the intention of retaining my journalistic integrity by being as fair and balanced as I humanly could, I soon realized that the task would be impossible given the fact that BuzzFeed’s existence is logically indefensible. Thus, I present to you the top seven reasons why BuzzFeed is “The Cancer of the Internet” in the highly satirical list-format that I myself so lovingly deplore. (Note: this list is in a completely arbitrary order.)
1. BuzzFeed hosts no (original) content.
Articles hosted on the site rarely feature anything more than lists rife with pictures and gifs shamelessly taken from every corner of the Internet, often times without proper attribution. The captions are, if anything, only slightly better than their corresponding images – usually, that is only because the captions are actually related to the original title. Based on the quality of some of the captions, I would guess that you do not really need any previous writing experience to contribute a piece of your own.
Moreover, these articles have no literary, journalistic or entertainment value at all. The topics in these articles range from vague generalizations that most of the population can relate to (“28 Things People Who Can’t Sleep Will Totally Understand”) to regurgitating the experience of niche groups (“30 Signs You Grew Up In Sacramento, CA”) to stupid quizzes (“What Kind of Pizza Slice Are You”). You would be hard pressed to squeeze a modicum of intelligent humor or amusement from the majority of the site’s so called “content.”
The way the site contributes nothing to society, while at the same time sucking away the life-blood of the rest of the Internet makes it little more than cancerous.
2. BuzzFeed abuses the click bait method.
Every time I find myself clicking on a BuzzFeed link, it turns out to be click bait trash. The sensationalist titles of the articles have little to nothing to do with the actual “content” and I end up having to waste my energy to click the “back” button on my browser every time I fall for the trap.
Furthermore, the effects of this glorified form of social engineering end up tarnishing the rest of the Internet. Click baiting chokes out traffic to sources that actually create real, substantive content, thus forcing other sources to rely on similarly sleazy tactics and lowering the quality of the content generated on the internet as a whole. Nowadays, you can even find reputable sources like Time and Slate attempting to remain relevant by sharing deceptive social media links.
3. BuzzFeed is glorified spam.
The way the links to useless BuzzFeed articles spread and get shared through the click baiting method is essentially spam.
4. BuzzFeed’s tags do not help categorize anything.
There is no way for any rational human being to figure out the vague differences between “lol,” “win,” “omg,” “cute,” “trashy,” “fail,” and “wtf.” For example: “28 Things People Who Can’t Sleep Will Totally Understand,” in my mind, should be categorized as “omg” or “wtf,” but in actuality it is under the “win” section. What the hell.
The ambiguous and confusing delineations between categories are yet another reflection of how little BuzzFeed actually cares about trying to create quality content for its users to enjoy.
5. The numbers BuzzFeed uses are arbitrary.
There is no reason why “25 Meals You Won’t Believe Someone Actually Ate” could not be 5 meals or 17 meals or even 83 meals. None at all. I cannot find a conceivable reason for why these arbitrary sets of whatever-the-author-decides-to-write-about are listed in the quantities that they are, and for that reason, I am led to believe that each author probably furiously Googles their topic until they exhaust their limited ability to use a search engine.
This phenomenon is also why I have decided to assign the random number of 7 to this article. The next two points will be lazily formulated and will seem unrelated to my original point, but will serve to propound my argument further as an example of BuzzFeed’s inherent mediocrity.
6. Reddit is better.
People who actually know how to use the Internet prefer Reddit. Also, Reddit does not constantly make Beyonce references on its quizzes.
7. My opinion is in a newspaper, so it must be true.
This is published in an official newspaper, thus my point must be truthful and correct.
Note 2: I do not mean to insult anyone who uses the site; again, I merely wish to point out BuzzFeed’s inherent mediocrity.
By THOMAS GUI
Staff Writer
Jack • Jan 8, 2022 at 11:49 am
Reddit is mostly garbage too. Some smaller, specialized subreddits are okay but overall reddit is cancer like buzzfeed. Started as a bastion of free speech and turned into a censorship nightmare where group think and preventing wrong think reign supreme.
College Newspaper • May 9, 2019 at 6:32 pm
You forgot to mention that Buzzfeed is INCREDIBLY bias towards almost everything they do. As well, they heavily prefer quantity over quality, which is a major thing not to do in journalism. I once read a list of 25 things on Buzzfeed and found that at least 8 of the 25 things were already mentioned. They could’ve called it 17 things, but they called it 25 things just to increase the potential of more views. It can be considered a work of art to screw up as poorly as Buzzfeed has.
BTW: They’re absolutely certain that cis white males are satanic beings that crawled straight out of the ninth circle of hell and are the reason for all of society’s problems. Case closed
Vivian Hir • Feb 1, 2019 at 7:13 am
I agree that Buzzfeed is just infotainment and a waste of time. We shouldn’t target one website. Social media is also a waste of time, like Facebook. However, Reddit can also be a waste of time (depending on what subreddits you go on).
Jeff Guymon • Mar 26, 2018 at 11:01 pm
Oh I’ve got one that you forgot to mention: they are extremely racist towards white people. Half of their content (maybe more) is propaganda geared towards hating white people, especially men. They’re filth at best!
Melted Snowflake • Jan 30, 2018 at 10:43 am
I highly suspect many of the defenders are employees of Buzzfeed.
Your site is a click-bait riddled mess of recycled garbage and socially divisive pap. Unfortunately, your viral model has been so successful in pervading the minds of laymans that other web businesses have conformed to your model.
Thiccboy • Jan 10, 2018 at 2:28 pm
And btw, please read through the article in the link before you every try to make an argument or prove your point again
Thiccboy • Jan 10, 2018 at 2:26 pm
“My opinion is in a newspaper, so it must be true..”
http://www.logicalfallacies.info/
Your seventh argument was so cancerous. Don’t get me wrong; I am not defending them. I hate them more than anything But your point was completely stupid and illogical.
Jerry • Oct 15, 2017 at 3:28 pm
Reddit is pretty fucking stupid too. Every Reddit user is practically the same. They’re all neckbeards.
Satan • Oct 15, 2017 at 3:27 pm
You’re all cancer.
Future Person! • Aug 17, 2017 at 4:01 pm
I come from the future to warn you of a terrible cancer! The internet will get Fidget Spinner Cancer, and BuzzFeed will dumb down even further!
succ my dicc • Feb 18, 2017 at 11:50 pm
i’m from 2017 and i can confirm buzzfeed is cancerous more than ever.
Chris • Sep 21, 2017 at 5:47 am
This article has aged like fine wine
Buttfeed Sucks • May 7, 2019 at 8:42 am
2019, BuzzFeed is still cancer
Sam • Oct 7, 2019 at 8:17 pm
Buzzfeed is the worst popularly-accepted thing on the internet….it seemed ok in like 2010 but now in 2019 it is an absolute trash-heap, on fire and sprinkled with poo.
vitaley • Jan 20, 2017 at 8:12 am
buzz feed is cancer and has no good points to make, there are only 2 genders, no such thing as assuming somebodies pronoun, buzz feed might have been good back then but not they just spew shit
john • Aug 13, 2016 at 8:53 pm
when even Buzzfeed staff admit that the entire point of buzzfeed is to generate as many clicks as possible, one might start to doubt their journalistic integrety…
source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T1V8nBinmMg
Anzac quick • May 22, 2016 at 2:06 am
I agree completely
oi • May 19, 2016 at 8:00 am
i love how you say this is in an official newspaper but it was made from wordpress
kikekiller14/88 • Apr 30, 2016 at 12:21 pm
Reddit is also garbage
ch • May 29, 2015 at 7:46 am
I honestly believe that Buzzfeed is dumbing society down, ruining the way people communicate, making annoying people even more annoying, and giving young, naive, and really superficial writers a platform to flip journalism on it’s head. It’s disrespectful crap and whenever I see someone sharing a Buzzfeed article it’s ALWAYS a really dumb, superficial person.
Matthew McVeagh • Mar 16, 2015 at 4:35 pm
“lists rife with pictures and gifs shamelessly taken from every corner of the Internet”
More like Twitter, Tumblr and Instagram mostly, only a few are from anywhere else.
On the other hand its serious journalism pieces are often really good – well-written (some of them anyway), generally quite well-researched and on important topics which readers seem to feel they become more enlightened about. These aren’t why millions of people flock to BuzzFeed, but once they’re there they may read one of these pieces where they wouldn’t have otherwise. Sometimes I suspect this is the whole, secret point of the website.
Samuel • Oct 3, 2017 at 9:51 am
No. Millions of people don’t flock to BuzzFeed for their news. They are nowhere near a reliable source. They generalize entire races in their videos, which effectively makes them racist. And the articles that are meant to be at a higher seriousness level (lmao) are literally just opinions or have little to no correct inforation.
Stinky Pete • May 27, 2014 at 2:10 am
Buzzfeed is THE cancer of the internet, or just A cancer of the internet? Just want to be certain, because I’m sure that the death of net neutrality will have a more cancerous effect on teh interwebz! 😉
Lucy • May 26, 2014 at 9:25 pm
Yeah… yeah.. Still… They know how to acronym…
I mean, come on, ‘gifs’?
Archel Bernard • May 26, 2014 at 11:51 am
This article promptly made me want to take the pizza slice quiz :/
Bellis (@jinglebellis) • May 26, 2014 at 9:43 am
#4 was spot on mate. spot on.
Nora • May 26, 2014 at 9:10 am
I was waiting for some problematisation re: the sensationalist, insensitive article title, but there was none. The author could have chosen a far more appropriate title that did not trivialise cancer for the sake of a (poorly researched) complaint about a pop culture website.
Luke • May 26, 2014 at 8:40 am
Noone’s* excuse me.
And a couple other points:
The numbers are probably just however many things the authors could come up with. There’s no reason for the articles to have a specific number, so they should just stuck to what (they, not you) find amusing.
And about the classifications, come on, those are clearly meant to be funny. And almost anyone I know, from high schoolers, to HLS and LSE students, to my boss, could figure those out and would find them mildly amusing.j
Disclaimer: I do not work for Buzzfeed or know anyone who has any connection to them.
Luke • May 26, 2014 at 8:33 am
JS is correct. There are often good, quite long and meaningful articles posted on Buzzfeed.
Many of the lists on Buzzfeed appeal to the natural human need to be part of a group or community with defining features. This is basic human nature, and while many of the lists are relatively banal, they often do make me kind of laugh and think “yeah I do that all the time!”
The quizzes are obviously supposed to be stupid and funny. Just because you don’t like them doesn’t mean they aren’t amusing. Nobone’s day needs to or even should be filled with taxing mental activities. Variety is good and a chance to relax and giggle at something stupid is a good thing.
What does bother me about buzzfeed is that they send old articles back up to the top of the page too often. I would rather it be kept in a more chronological order.
Samuel • Oct 3, 2017 at 9:48 am
And just because you find them amusing doesn’t mean they are. 🙂
JS • May 26, 2014 at 2:43 am
Actually, I’ve read some incredible enlightening work on buzzfeed.
Why I Bought a House in Detroit for $500: http://www.buzzfeed.com/drewphilp/why-i-bought-a-house-in-detroit-for-500
The Controversial Answer To America’s Heroin Surge: http://www.buzzfeed.com/johnknefel/the-controversial-answer-to-americas-heroin-surge
And there are others.
Under the superficiality of the more popularly shared posts (which I, at 25 years old, do happen to sometimes find amusing), there are some really insightful and meaningful ones. If you know where to look. To write off Buzzfeed because your friends are sharing what you apparently deem as superficial, unoriginal, meaningless crap, is ridiculous. As a journalism school graduate, I can say that you clearly have not done all your research, which you really should have done before so easily writing off this website.
Thomas Gui • May 27, 2014 at 9:18 pm
My point has been proven: this lazily written article with a sensationalist headline has attracted way more attention than it should have, and that’s only because it closely emulates Buzzfeed’s similarly shoddy journalism. Sure there may be a few golden nuggets hidden on Buzzfeed, but there isn’t much.
BuzzFeedBenny • May 26, 2014 at 1:57 am
Sour grapes, anyone? How about trying to be just a little more bitter? You’re just mad because Buzzfeed is one of the most popular sites on the internet while yours is sophomoric & unimportant. I think it’s about time to update your 2005 looking site to 2014. Haters gonna hate, obviously!
dm • May 26, 2014 at 5:05 pm
You’re probably white, yet still use the ghetto euphemism, “Haters gonna hate.” First of all, grow up. Secondly, no, that’s all. Just grow up!
Nick • Apr 24, 2017 at 7:53 am
Lmao, way to be racist, bud
Samuel • Oct 3, 2017 at 9:46 am
Great assumption of race based off of behavior. Because that’s cool.
Thomas Gui • May 27, 2014 at 9:27 pm
This is the official website of a high-school newspaper. That’s right, HIGH SCHOOL. Furthermore, if you going to lambaste a group of aspiring, amateur journalists based on the OPINION of SINGLE staff writer, I’d hate somewhere more appropriate. But then, haters gonna hate, obviously.
Yuri • Dec 8, 2015 at 8:19 am
Best. Response. Ever.
Michael • Dec 26, 2015 at 2:58 pm
I feel so bad for those “aspiring journalists” that work for BuzzFeed. They probably came out of college, hoping to be the next Nelly Bly or Upton Sinclair, but then end up having to work at BuzzFeed and write articles like “12 Ways You Won’t Believe A Person, Place, or Thing Is A Noun”.
Sammyd961 • Apr 22, 2016 at 8:34 pm
Even a high school newspaper article has better content than Buzzfeed? That’s sad. But then again, the people that work for Buzzfeed aren’t real journalists, so can you blame them?
Toad Groan • Apr 7, 2015 at 9:35 am
young people are so vapid. read a book. please read a book. please? kthnxbye.
Michael • Dec 26, 2015 at 3:00 pm
>Says “read a book”.
>Follows “read a book” with “kthnxbye”.
My sides hurt now.
Kilo • Dec 19, 2015 at 6:01 am
“I’m just going to ignore all of your criticisms and say that you’re jealous of our success while singling in on the old aesthetic of your website (which means NOTHING) to further prove your point about how terrible we are.” -YOU
Samuel • Oct 3, 2017 at 9:47 am
What success? No seriously where? The only reason BuzzFeed is still relevant is due to the self-destructive articles they release. It’s so disgusting and terrible that people have to talk about it.
Lucas • Apr 4, 2016 at 8:57 am
Why wouldn’t he be jealous, or mad? Buzzfeed gets a lot of people looking at it. Hell, people have had their content put on buzzfeed and no credit attributed to them, all the money for the views goes to Buzzfeed. Buzzfeed has 0 journalistic integrity and is a site for idiots.
Zach • Jun 14, 2016 at 3:52 pm
You’re just saying that because buttfeed pranked you and the cancer has gone to ur head
4y • Jul 31, 2016 at 5:11 pm
Inappropriate use of sophomoric, budd. Reddit is very mature and has a multitude of mature and serious articles circulating the front page not just, OMG WHAT DID YONCE JUST DO CLICK HERE TO FIND OUT.
The Snow Mexican • Apr 28, 2017 at 7:18 pm
Buzzfeed is how Feminism became a bad thing. I am liberal, I am politically correct, I am a feminist (a real feminist), support the rights of LGBT, and hate BuzzFeed. Women and Men aren’t the same, there are differences, and Destiny is NOT sexist for that… thing. The thing about the sitting. WTF is that? Or should I say WIN IS THAT!! see what I did there?
jerry • Jun 19, 2019 at 12:36 am
yeah he’s wrong buzzfeed is NOT the cancer of the interent buzzfeed….. supporters of buzzfeed like you are.
Anon • May 26, 2014 at 1:48 am
In response to #1: the point of BuzzFeed is to collect content from various sources and organise them into “listicles” to let us know what’s been “buzzing” on the internet. Hence “buzz feed”. Lots of content from Reddit make their way into more aesthetic looking listicles too. Original content is obviously not to be expected. Although some quizzes and other things are original.