New York, April 10, 2012– BuzzFeed today launched a vertical dedicated solely to one of the Internet’s most popular staples: Animals. Led by Jack Shepherd, BuzzFeed veteran editor and long-time animal blogger, BuzzFeed Animals will be a safe place on the Internet, full of content intended to allow the reader to fully indulge in all things cute, hilarious and heartwarming. BuzzFeed Animals marks the site’s fifth vertical launch in four months including Politics, FWD, Shift and Sports.
"Most sensible people with computers spend their workdays scouring the Web for baby panda slideshows and breaking cat video news, but this is actually my job," said Jack Shepherd, editor of BuzzFeed Animals. "The demand for adorable photos of newborn sloths and roundups of heartwarming interspecies friendships is so immense that some poor sap is going to have to fall on their sword and make that happen. I, for one, am thrilled to be that poor sap.”
“The Internet demands cute animals, and BuzzFeed Animals is in the unique position to deliver animals in an unprecedented, social manner,” said Scott Lamb, BuzzFeed’s Managing Editor. “Just as we have with our politics coverage, BuzzFeed Animals will take the national cute animal conversation by storm, raising the bar for everyone trying to cover cute kitten videos and corgis on the web.”
Some of site’s most popular posts, and a glimpse into what you can expect from BuzzFeed Animals, include “The 25 Happiest Animals In The World,” “The 25 Most Awkward Cat Sleeping Positions,” “20 Cats As Fonts” and “25 Animals Who Think They’re People.” BuzzFeed Animals will incorporate a “Cute or Not?” function where users can upload photos of their animals for which the BuzzFeed community can vote, among other new features.
For more from BuzzFeed Animals, visit http://www.buzzfeed.com/animals.
Media Contact:
Ashley McCollum
BuzzFeed, Press Manager
ashley.mccollum@buzzfeed.com
347.977.1411
Alice Suh
BuzzFeed, Director of Communications
alice@buzzfeed.com
646.599.8652
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About BuzzFeed
BuzzFeed is a new kind of media company for the social world. Our technology powers the viral distribution of content, detects what is trending on the web, and connects people in realtime with the hottest content of the moment. Our site is a rapidly growing hub for viral media that reaches over 20 million monthly unique visitors and our viral media network reaches an additional 300M.
BuzzFeed is at the forefront of a major shift in the advertising industry away from traditional banner ads towards "social advertising" that engages consumers, inspires sharing, and produces viral lift, or "earned media."
BuzzFeed's industry leading technology and unique social distribution engine is used by top brands such as GE, Kraft, Viacom, Disney, and Coca Cola to go beyond banners, turbo charging their social advertising and branded content initiatives.
Jonah Peretti, founder & CEO of BuzzFeed, previously cofounded the Huffington Post and is a graduate of the MIT Media Lab.
BuzzFeed is backed by: NEA, Softbank, Hearst, RRE, Lerer Ventures, SV Angel and Founder Collective.