A BuzzFeed in a Box: The People Behind ViralNova (Emotionally Manipulating Feed Site)

http://www.thewire.com/technology/2013/12/buzzfeed-box-people-behind-viralnova/71529/


ViralNova came out of nowhere. A collection of image-heavy, emotionally manipulating posts unabashedly in the style of BuzzFeed and Upworthy, the site launched in May with stories like "14 Photos That Will Warm Your Heart" and "Lioness Saves her Cub Trapped on a Cliff." There are no good traffic statistics for ViralNova — the site is not tracked by comScore and its "About" page is intentionally vague — but according to Alexa, in May it was the 443,652nd most popular website in the world and now it's ranked 1,685th.

-----------------

ViralNova bills itself along similar lines as BuzzFeed and Upworthy: they specialize in viral content, focused on emotionally potent or striking stories that will provoke maximum shareability on Facebook and Twitter. And whereas Upworthy says it aims to bring about social change (it might post a worthwhile video of, say, Robert Reich talking economic inequality under the punchy headline "Trying To Get Richer? Here's Why You Can Pretty Much Give Up Now&quot , ViralNova's specialty is strictly whatever will get you to click and share. Recent stories on the site include"I've Never Seen Anything So Heartbreaking In My Life. But It's Completely Beautiful At The Same Time" and "If You Think This Is A Normal Wedding, Think Again. What Happened Obliterated My Heart."

The media insider reaction to ViralNova has been a mixture of scorn and fear. Last month, The Awl's Choire Sicha suggested ViralNova might be the worst site on the internet, ranking it ahead of (or below?) the troll essays of Thought Catalog, pointing to one of the site's more morbid headlines: "This Old Couple Tragically Died In A Car Accident. But What Rescuers Found Inside Was Beautiful." The Guardian's Oliver Burkeman toured the site and concluded that ViralNova "shows what happens when this approach is taken to its logical conclusion. And it's not pretty. … The problem with the relentless 'search for meaning,' though, is that pretty soon it extinguishes all meaning in favour of this pure emotion." Burkeman also pointed out that one of the site's most popular stories—a four-part screenshot of a Tumblr reblog conversation about a rescue dog—is not even remotely true. At BuzzFeed, tech editor John Herrman found ViralNova's traffic stats impressive and concluded that the site is "basically an invisible secret tunnel between the dark internet — chain-letter internet — and Facebook."

But these fears may miss the mark. ViralNova isn't so much the logical conclusion of this shareable social media era as much as a sign of its end. Unlike BuzzFeed, which has raised $46 million from investors and has hundreds of employees, and Upworthy, which has raised $12 million, as near as we can tell after combing through hours upon hours of web searches the people behind ViralNova are a trio of young web designers and SEO consultants based in Ohio. Their opaque About page mocks the numerous "media companies, bloggers, and other professionals" who have inquired and give shadowy hints about its creators. "Where are you located? Internet. Seriously, no office."

http://www.thewire.com/technology/2013/12/buzzfeed-box-people-behind-viralnova/71529/