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BuzzFeed
Due: February 9, 2016
To: Professor Ledbetter
From: Jenna Maloney
Subject: Rhetorical Analysis of BuzzFeed.com

BuzzFeed is an American social news and entertainment platform

that covers the recent humor, trends, politics, celebrity gossip, and
relatable posts for all demographics to resonate with and find humor in. I
frequently check in on BuzzFeed to see the current college trends and pop
culture news to discuss with friends. Considering the compatibility with
various social media outlets, I am always able to retweet, favorite, share,
pin to my Pinterest board, and send the link as an iMessage to my friends
to be more connected to each other through pop culture.

Overview

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The rhetorical analysis of the BuzzFeed social media page will take the
following format:
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o
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o
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Audience
Context
Purpose
Cultural Value and Behavior
Conclusion

Audience
Despite only being founded ten years ago,
BuzzFeed
attracts an audience of over 200 million (BuzzFeed article, about). Within
the approximate 200 million subscribers and viewers, 100.2 million
account for national viewers while 92.8 million viewers are international.
In addition, BuzzFeed is constantly being viewed by its devout fans. The
BuzzFeed article traffic reaches 284.5 million American views over a 30
day span, while internationally it is almost doubled, with a whopping
499.8 million international views also over a 30 day span. In
addition, BuzzFeed lures in various demographics groups to market to all
people along the life course. The Atlantics article, The External Return of
BuzzFeed shed light on the diversity of their target audience in which
BuzzFeed instead taps into a number of different existing networks
distinct groups like new parents, or people from northern Michigan, or
children of immigrants, or people named Ashleyand then capitalizes on
the distribution platforms the people in those groups use to connect with
one another (LaFrance, 2015). The success of BuzzFeed is evident in their
accumulated profits that have reached $50 million in venture capital from
Andreessen Horowitz, yielding a reported value of $850 million.
Contrary to popular belief, BuzzFeed is not solely a comedy news
publishing website. Instead, BuzzFeed shares articles on current events,
politics, and even public health with their quirky spin and humorous
thoughts that we all, as the audience, were thinking too.

Context:
There are endless uses for BuzzFeed as the topics are as diverse as
its audience. No matter what is going on in the world, there is an article,
and always an appropriate friend, relative, or co-worker to share the
article with. BuzzFeed houses various sections on its website to cover the
most recent news and popular conversation related to political LGBT
issues, Business, Parents, Health, Ideas, Travel, and many more.
Considering the wide range of topics, BuzzFeed never fails to insert its
sarcasm and witty comments that resonate with all readers. For example,
BuzzFeed has recently been on top of the Presidential debates by

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publishing articles entitled, The Night Donald Trump Became a Loser on
its BuzzFeed Politics section of the website. In addition to defying the
notion that BuzzFeed is for frivolous celebrity gossip, BuzzFeed continues
to provide their brand of comedic relief to political issues in which Donald
Trumps campaign message being equated to discounted luxury brand.

Purpose:
In addition to serving the public its news in a humorous and
relatable manner, BuzzFeed is also committed to setting an example on
how organizations should redesign themselves. Ever since 2006 when
being established, BuzzFeed has been committed to hiring talent that is
diverse in terms of demographics and interests, which they believe,
account for the variance in the pages content and target population
attraction. While other news articles such as the Wall Street Journal attract
mostly finance or accounting majors, or senior vice presidents at major
financial corporations, BuzzFeed ensures they are able to attract the same
employee, along with his brother, friend, ex-girlfriend, doctor, and
babysitter as well.

Direct Use of Rhetorical Skills

Logos-

the usage of descriptive statistics of political polls, public

health and personal wellness data, and even demographic reports that are
related to the target population for its brand resonates with the reader to
share a sense of community and humor for the various dimensions of
society.

Ethos-

developing a diverse brand image with reliable data

sources such as the Pew Research Center or Gallup Research in which
public opinions and responses from the community are provided from
credible organizations and institutions. While most people generally think
of BuzzFeed as a parody online publishing company, BuzzFeed Politics
provides national and demographic data that professors, politicians,
authors, journalists, and many other well respected professionals and
occupations aggregate for their day jobs, not just for a laugh while
skimming through the page on a lunch break.

Pathos- The activation of emotion through the metaphors, pop

culture quotes, celebrity gossip, and puns related to real world issues
enlivens many dialogues for BuzzFeed. Thus, BuzzFeed attracts a diverse
audience and following due to the variance in its pathos. Whether one is
attempting to venture out of the traditional news sources for comedic
relief on even the most pertinent social issues.
Cultural Values and Behavior
BuzzFeed majorly targets Millenials as a generational cohort in
which the social media outlets they utilize are most frequented by
Millenials themselves on a day to day basis. For example, BuzzFeed has a
Snapchat account that has a representative travel to political debates,
fashion shows, concerts, academy awards, and other popular events in
our culture to ensure the target population does not plateau. To ensure
this, BuzzFeed is intentional about their social media outlet selection in
which Snapchat was created within the first year those born in 1993 were
22 years old. In addition to attracting the correct audience, BuzzFeed
makes sure to capture and report information that appeals to the same
demographic group. For example, BuzzFeed recently posted an article
discusses marketing tactics on the national level that appeals to LGBT
culture, making it more of a norm rather than a subgroup. By doing so,
BuzzFeed is able to tap into the dimensions of Millennials, continue their
social media support, and establish the liberal culture it presents in terms
of its content.

Conclusion
I learned that BuzzFeed has many more dimensions and
sophistication than anticipated. The majority of BuzzFeed posts that I
come across are either shared on Facebook or sent to me directly via
iMessage that are majorly for comic relief or to personally relate to.
However, when doing exploratory research on this social media platform, I
was able to see that BuzzFeed covers much more than When You Know
the Struggle is Real in College or What We Were All Thinking at the
Golden Globes but instead, a politically informed, socially literate, and
culturally aware entity that reaches all populations and ideas that
constantly permeate our nation, and even world.