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    BuzzFeed's Best Posts Of The Year

    It was quite a year.

    When I started work at BuzzFeed on midnight last January 1, we were already the best at something: Creating emotionally driven, image-heavy content people want to share. Matt Stopera’s Most Powerful Images of 2011 had been the most popular post in our history.

    But Jonah Peretti, BuzzFeed’s founder and CEO, had realized that the social space had expanded to include not only the emotionally resonant items people share on Facebook, but also the hard news, compelling features, lists, humor, and analysis that thrive on Twitter. Americans were spending less time finding content from portals and search engines, and more from their friends, and Jonah made a huge gamble that BuzzFeed could vastly broaden its mandate.

    A year later, it seems obvious that he was right. Our political coverage, which operated on the assumption — truer, at first, in politics than anywhere else — that Twitter is your front page, made a big impact in the ultra-competitive presidential campaign by doing what great reporters love to: Report and write. And since January 1, 2012, when Matt Stopera and Zeke Miller shared a room in the Hotel Fort Des Moines, we’ve learned enormous amounts about the substance and form of social journalism.

    Our verticals have been rooted in this same reality of social news. FWD covers the new human reality of tech, providing crucial — and shareable — insight on how life is lived on Twitter and Facebook and how those services are used. Shift has gone deep into how women live their lives online and off, and taken seriously the year’s breakthrough social platform, Pinterest. Our Sports vertical has pioneered a new visual, GIF-heavy form of storytelling that merges the best of sportswriting and broadcasting.

    Successive waves of of verticals we launched this year drilled down on some of the things people love to learn about, and to share, from food to nostalgia (to food nostalgia!), celebrity, music, LGBT, and — naturally — animals. We have filled in deep expertise and authority on everything from playlists — BuzzFeed Music’s is one of Rdio’s top playlists — to recipes for cooking everything from doves to jello shots. We have made the case for Ryan Gosling, for Corgis and cats; and I’ve learned along the way just how hard the deceptively simple, emotionally direct posts like 33 Animals Who Are Extremely Disappointed In You are to make.

    We’ve also taken on a new medium in a big way: This fall, we lured the online video genius Ze Frank aboard to teach us — and millions of other people — how to trade Halloween candy, and how to navigate Thanksgiving.

    Here’s a quick trip through some of the best stuff we made this year, a crazy mix of content that we hope will look like your Facebook feed on a very good day.

    McCain To Endorse Romney Tomorrow

    Exclusive: Marco Rubio's Mormon Roots

    BuzzFeed Goes To The International Pizza Expo

    At Harvard, Obama Dived Into Diversity Fight

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    Read the whole post here.

    For Thousands Of Veterans, The New G.I. Bill Isn't Working

    13 Simple Steps To Get You Through A Rough Day

    Google's Marissa Mayer: "I Really Hope More Women Enter The Field"

    Career Confidential: Wall Street Escort Wishes She Could Tell Clients: "You're Really Small And You're Bad In Bed"

    50 People You Wish You Knew In Real Life

    Facebook Social Readers Are All Collapsing

    21 Reasons You Should Be Following The NBA's Weirdest Player On Twitter

    How The White House Smothered The News Of Obama's Trip To Afghanistan

    21 Pictures That Will Restore Your Faith In Humanity

    The Strongest Woman In America Lives In Poverty

    31 Insanely Easy and Clever DIY Projects

    Horror Hospital: The Most Shocking Photos And Testimony From The Dawood Military Hospital Scandal

    It Never Gets Better

    BuzzFeed Goes To The Hill Cumorah Pageant

    An Olympic Fencer Refuses To Leave The Floor After Getting Screwed

    McKayla Maroney's Vault Was So Good It Literally Dropped A Judge's Jaw

    Ryan Lochte: Great At Swimming, Less Great At Talking About Swimming

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    BuzzFeed goes to the National Hobo Convention

    Tech Confessional: The Googler Who Looked At The Worst Of The Internet

    The Angriest Babies In The Whole World

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    12 Hilarious Reviews Of A Pen Just For Women

    Why Music Gives You The Chills

    Can You Die From A Nightmare?

    Foreign Policy Hands Voice Disbelief At Romney Cairo Statement

    22 Things You're Doing Wrong

    Proof That Cats Are Better Than Dogs

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    Making Mitt: The Myth Of George Romney

    Why Is This Man Running for President of the Internet?

    27 Nail Hacks for the Perfect DIY Manicure

    How To Make 5 Perfect Dinners For $10 Each

    Polygamists See Themselves In Romney, Obama Family Trees

    The Guide To Trading Candy

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    Welcome To Liberal America

    The Sins Of General David Petraeus

    The Perfect Guide To Holiday Etiquette

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    True Facts About The Angler Fish

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    19 People Who Are Having A Way Worse Day Than You

    Atari Teenage Riot: The Inside Story Of Pong And The Video Game Industry's Big Bang

    22 Great Albums You Might Have Missed In 2012

    How To Open A Beer Bottle Without Touching It

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    3. The 25 Funniest AutoCorrects Of 2012

    The 30 Best Photos Of Hillary Clinton From 2012

    11 Food Trends That Need To Die In 2013

    26 Moments That Restored Our Faith In Humanity This Year