BuzzFeed, the media site known for its celebrity news and quizzes, announced on Tuesday that it’s developing its own social media platform in a move to counter the current negativity on the internet. Semafor first reported BuzzFeed’s plan for the platform this past week.
Details on the new platform are not yet public. However, the company explains it will focus on interactive storytelling and new content formats.
When asked, BuzzFeed declined to clarify if the “platform” would work across web, mobile web, native apps, or all of the above.
AI tools will play a part, however, aimed at encouraging “self-expression” and “connection,” the company said. Though the platform will be human-curated, it’s built on existing LLMs used for specific “creative” purposes.
BuzzFeed itself already infuses OpenAI’s technology into its quizzes and games.
A launch date or official name has yet to be announced. (We’ll speculate that the name could be “Island,” based on the logo and new landing page.)
Users can now join the waitlist. BuzzFeed will test with selected users to focus on developing a finished product based on their feedback.
BuzzFeed’s manifesto for a better internet
Amid rampant misinformation and users’ doom-scrolling addiction on mainstream social media platforms, BuzzFeed’s new platform intends to serve as a refuge from the current algorithm-driven gloom.
“I’m fed up with giving the platform companies advice about how to fix the internet, if we want this done right, we have to do it ourselves,” founder and CEO Jonah Peretti writes in a new manifesto, which was published on Tuesday as part of the announcement.
In the manifesto, Peretti criticizes big tech like TikTok and Meta for neglecting their users’ well-being by prioritizing an “addictive,” AI-driven algorithm over human curation. He argues that these apps manipulate consumer behavior for their own profit rather than for the benefit of users.
However, Peretti says BuzzFeed’s new social media platform will use AI “to give users agency instead of stealing their agency.” (It’s unclear what that means.)
“We do the doomscrolling for you so you can follow the biggest trends, find the hidden gems, and be in the loop without wasting your time and risking your mental health. We will also counter the anger and fear with a sense of humor, laughing at the buffoonery and ridiculousness of the most powerful people,” Peretti writes. “We will counter the increase of gaslighting and misinformation by speaking to our diverse audience in ways that other institutions, media, and platforms clearly won’t.”
Since its inception, BuzzFeed built an audience by delivering lighthearted content, such as celebrity stories, entertaining quizzes, and viral videos that resonate with many users.
The company’s attempts at leveraging that content to sustain other endeavors, like BuzzFeed News, haven’t panned out. The latter shut down in 2023 at a time when the media group had lost the majority of its value.
BuzzFeed isn’t the first to attempt to address the darker aspects of social media. Many apps — Communia, Daylyy, Weare8, and more — continue to emerge, each asserting a commitment to restoring a positive atmosphere within the digital zeitgeist.
The reality is that social media fuels negativity. It would require a collective effort across all social media platforms to achieve such a transformation, if one were even to be had.
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