BuzzFeed is a website that combines a technology platform for detecting viral content with an editorial selection process to provide a snapshot of "the viral web in realtime." Cofounded in 2006 by Jonah Peretti

Jonah Peretti

Jonah Peretti is an Internet entrepreneur and a founder of BuzzFeed and Huffington Post. The New York Times called him a "viral marketing hot dog."...

 (who is also cofounder of The Huffington Post), BuzzFeed is located in SoHo, New York.

Homepage content

The BuzzFeed homepage consists of a time-sequential list of posts from users and staff members. The content of the posts is usually either a video, image, or link. These posts are the site's attempt to capture the essence of viral media currently resonating on the web. On Fridays, the website hosts a battle, where users are challenged to post the best, most time-wasting Flash game. Other posts are compendiums of memes or images that are all similar to each other in some way. Occasionally there are quizzes, but these posts are infrequent.

User profiles

Every registered user of BuzzFeed has a homepage that contains links to their most recent contributions to the site. There is also a brief bio section and a scoreboard of how many times these users posts have been featured on the homepage or awarded "Gold Stars" by the staff.

BuzzFeed labs

BuzzFeed Labs are an ongoing effort on the part of the BuzzFeed editors to track, test, and to sometimes create viral media. Past efforts have included: attempting to break a beer bottle in half for use as a shiv in a bar fight, citizen journalism

Citizen journalism

Citizen journalism is the concept of members of the public "playing an active role in the process of collecting, reporting, analyzing and disseminating news and information," according to the seminal 2003 report We Media: How Audiences are Shaping the Future of News and Information...

 investigating a fire on the Manhattan Bridge, and the creation of a giant energy malt liquor drink using a forty ounce beer and a can of Red Bull

Red Bull

Red Bull is an energy drink sold by the Austrian Red Bull GmbH, created in 1987 by the Austrian entrepreneur Dietrich Mateschitz. In terms of market share, Red Bull is the most popular energy drink in the world, with 3 billion cans sold each year. Dietrich Mateschitz was inspired by an already...

. These labs are conducted sporadically and have no set release schedule.

Badges

A key component of Buzzfeed's ongoing mission to sort, certify, and promote the viral web is the use of "Badges". Tags like "LOL" "Eww" "Old" "WTF" "TRASHY" "GEEKY" "CUTE" are available for users to award to posts that they feel merit them. If enough users feel the same way, then a visual badge is tacked-onto the edge of the thumbnail image for that post, alerting others to its content.