I’ve been watching Buzzfeed UK with interest since Patrick Smith jumped ship from The Media Briefing to join them last year.
I was curious to see some examples of his journalism filtered through Buzzfeed’s style. Here’s a couple of examples:
- The Independent is up for sale – but who’s buying?
- Broadcasters turn to short-form video to reach younger audiences
Pretty clear how it works:
- Content broken down into distinct “single idea” chunks
- Supporting social media material embedded wherever possible
- The subheads actually tell the story on their own
I don’t think it would be a stretch to say that this is tabloid journalism (used in a non-pejorative sense) throughly reinvented for the digital era. That’s good. Just as there was room for multiple content forms in print journalism, so there should be for online journalism.