What is "buzzfeed"

BuzzFeed is an Internet media company based in New York City. The firm describes itself as a "social news and entertainment company" with a focus on digital media and digital technology in order to provide "the most shareable breaking news, original reporting, entertainment, and video." BuzzFeed was founded in 2006 as a viral lab, focusing on tracking viral content, by Jonah Peretti and John S. Johnson III. Kenneth Lerer, co-founder and Chairman of The Huffington Post, started as a co-founder and investor in BuzzFeed and is now the Executive Chairman as well.

Prior to establishing BuzzFeed, Peretti experimented with other contagious media as director of research and development and the OpenLab at Eyebeam, Johnson's New York City-based art and technology non-profit. The company has grown into a global media and technology company providing coverage on a variety of topics including politics, DIY, animals and business. In late 2011 Ben Smith of Politico was hired as Editor-in-Chief to expand the site into serious journalism, long-form journalism, and reportage.