The first keynote speaker at TechCrunch Disript NY 2013 was Buzzfeed founder Jonah Peretti, whose quirkily but appropriately titled presentation, "Everything Is Literally Crazy" took place the morning of Monday, April 29 at the Manhattan Center.
Peretti, whose Buzzfeed.com news site receives 50 million unique visitors per month (along with those attracted via its larger network), began his presentation with the notion that Google achieved its success by understanding the most important aspect of online networks.
"Publish to the zeitgeist," Peretti said.
By this aphorism, Peretti means that there is an inherent value in publishing, sharing and communicating photos of cute animals as well as stories and ideas dealing with the most substantial political trend of the moment.
"Humor is inherently social," Peretti continued, adding that a popular site such as Buzzfeed can bring in massive numbers thanks to its galvanizing what he referred to as "Bored at Work Network." These are the folks who are "working half the day ... and 'connecting' the other half of the day."
While people are "connecting" on the Internet, they're doing so in a uniquely bicameral way, Peretti feels. Whereas someone might be searching for, say, naked pictures of a hot celebrity on Google, the same person also may be posting or sharing that he she has found some truly important facts about a recent social struggle in an impoverished country.
Essentially, Peretti is saying, what we search for and what we're looking at, isn't always the same thing that we're broadcasting to the world. Thus sites such as Buzzfeed have found their success: In targeting both sectors of our society — those who are looking up socio-politically relevant information and those who are looking up nude celebs or cute animals.
"Really, what we're seeing on the Internet is the same person doing two things," Peretti said.
It's this connection to the community of people everywhere searching for, well, everything, that Peretti thinks is the key for others who are trying to figure out the "silver bullet" or secret to a successful social/community network.
Back on the topic of his playful presentation title, Peretti went on to say that "humans are weird" and that though employing marketing that would utilize, say, pictures of scantily clad models might not work for a particular ad — it's too "sleazy" to be shared by a lot of viewers, Peretti reminds us, and thus marketing potential is lost — it can be used to drive traffic to a site where folks can remain anonymous while looking at such promotional material.
"We tend to think of ourselves as sane and other people as crazy," Peretti said, elucidating on the notion that we all have our little quirks, obsessions and fetishes, but, again, don't necessarily want them broadcast. If you can make a Web service that takes advantage of these quirks and, as Peretti went on to detail meticulously, the various "social disorders" (OCD, narcissism, substance intoxication, etc.) that people have or think they have, then you will be more successful in driving traffic toward your site.
"You should be worried if you're not crazy," Peretti said, saying that these very quirks and fetishes are the very essence of humanity, and hence why it is so important to keep them in mind while building a site for, well, humans. Peretti even went as far as showing shots from the dystopian sci-film classic Blade Runner to demonstrate the difference between someone who is an unfeeling "android" (or sociopath such as Jeffrey Dahmer, whose picture was also on display on the stage's big screen) and someone who has empathy for, say, photos of cute animals.
"If you feel emotion," Peretti said, "you're probably human ... When people complain we run too many photos of cute animals on Buzzfeed, I can only ask them, 'Are you a sociopath?' "
Peretti concluded his presentation with these key elements that he feels drives the success of sites such as Buzzfeed:
1. We don't have unified interests: It is essential to work toward attracting all sectors of society, even those who are deemed as "crazy" for wanting photos of nude celebs along with to-the-moment political news. (Because, in the end, "everyone" is crazy.)
2. EQ matters more than IQ: Social sites looking for success should remember that the emotions of people drive them more toward your site than their intellectual pursuits.
3. We are all literally crazy: "Being yourself" is about giving into conflicted interests, Peretti is saying here, reminding us that it's important to remember that in the wider audience sites are trying to attract.
4. Cats on the Web aren't about the cats, but about the humans: If you want to be successful in driving traffic toward your social site, post photos of cute animals. If people complain about this, they're either not human beings (call your local Blade Runner, in that event) or they're sociopaths.
Like what you're reading? Follow @profklickberg.
