#BuzzfeedLayoffs: What happened to the poster child of digital news media?
The layoffs at BuzzFeed are just the beginning of the crash that news media companies are staring at.
What happened?
1. Last week, BuzzFeed, the poster child of digital news media, announced layoffs, sparking conversations about the future of journalism.
2. The company cut 200 jobs globally, including in its India team.
3. The layoffs, according to BuzzFeed CEO Jonah Peretti, are in line to “reduce our costs and improve our operating model”.
4. The same day Verizon (which owns HuffPost, Yahoo, and AOL) announced its decision to lay off seven per cent of its staff and Gannett Co.—which owns more than 1,000 daily and weekly newspapers across the country—decided to cut 400 jobs,
5. Nearly 1,000 journalists lost their jobs in the US last week.
Why did it happen?
1. BuzzFeed, like other poster children of digital media—Vice and Huffington Post, has been struggling to turn profits.
2. This is yet another signal that the business of digital news media is built on questionable foundations. This is the second round of layoffs at BuzzFeed in three years. In 2017, the company laid off 100 staffers after it missed its revenue targets.
3. Many are laying the blame at Facebook’s door for changing its newsfeed algorithm, which led to loss of traffic across media organisations globally.
4. The reality is messier.
What did digital media companies get wrong?
1. The assumption that the Internet is a communication media just like print or broadcast, that the logic and economics of print or broadcast will transfer online.
2. The assumption that advertising and subscriptions will financially sustain media production online.
3. The assumption that content is a differentiator.
4. News organisations are particularly vulnerable.
How did they get it wrong?
1. The Internet was seen as a joke, a technology that nerds used. This line of thought gained credence, especially after the dot com bubble burst in 2000.
2. Twenty years later, the Internet is a resource like electricity, mediating every aspect of our lives, including media consumption.
3. The joke is now on media companies and executives who continue to be baffled and apply the logic and the economics of print and broadcast online.
What is the way ahead?
1. We are living through a revolution where fundamental assumptions and technologies are being replaced by new ones.
2. No one knows what lies ahead. Be sceptical of anyone who claims to have answers in video, subscriptions and memberships.
3. When someone wants to be told what is ahead, they want to be lied to, to be told that we aren’t living through a revolution.
4. Large media organisations might survive this revolution. Small and medium ones will very likely be decimated.
5. Content is commoditised on the Internet. Content and content formats are not differentiators online. We see that every day on the Internet with the rise and decay of memes and meme formats.
6. We need to create information services.
7. Journalists need to go back to doing what they are good at—journalism.
8. We need to think of ways to save journalism, which is different from trying to save newspapers or TV news channels.
9. This is a moment to experiment instead of chasing the latest hype and buzzwords.
What are the interesting experiments that are happening?
1. ProPublica: An investigative journalism outlet that does stories which create real-word impact.
2. The Bureau of Investigative Journalism: An investigative news outlet that also runs citizen-led investigations.
3. The City Bureau: Runs a project called the Documenters, where citizens are paid to attend and report on local council meetings.
4. International Consortium of Investigative Journalists: Independent journalists and news organisations coming together to investigate some of the biggest cross-continent stories.
5. Reporters 101: A marketplace for journalism
6. Daily Hunt: Check out their plans for the upcoming general election on FactorDaily.
7. De Correspondent: A membership-based news organisation that involves the community in its reportage
Where can I read more about how the Internet affects the publishing business?