The exposé on Cory Booker’s imaginary thug pal T-Bone is a pretty big story. One that the super-hip and current BuzzFeed should totes be all over. Right?
@BuzzFeedBen Is there an IT web tech you guys have on staff that can fix your site so I can read about Cory Booker's made up friend?
— Stephen Miller (@redsteeze) August 29, 2013
Or maybe not so much:
.@BuzzFeedBen has thrown out some lame ass excuses before, but this one takes the cake. https://t.co/2gXPjEIPIy
— RBe (@RBPundit) August 29, 2013
Let’s take a look at what editor-in-chief Ben Smith had to say about BuzzFeed’s silence:
@sschubart @redsteeze wait you couldn’t find the story on twitter? The Internet is no longer about aggregating stuff. Great story tho.
— Ben Smith (@BuzzFeedBen) August 29, 2013
Um, what?
"BuzzFeed – we feed the Buzz. Unless it's already on Twitter." Is that it now, @BuzzFeedBen? I look forward to holding you to this standard.
— RBe (@RBPundit) August 29, 2013
@RBPundit I am slightly amused that you think that’s new — that you missed the shift from aggregation to social. Not 100 pct of course.
— Ben Smith (@BuzzFeedBen) August 29, 2013
Call us crazy, but it seems that Smith is directly contradicting BuzzFeed’s whole stated raison d’être:
BuzzFeed is the leading media company for social news and entertainment, intensely focused on delivering high-quality original reporting, insight, and viral content across a rapidly expanding array of subject areas. Our technology powers the social distribution of content, detects what is trending on the web, and connects people in realtime with the hottest content of the moment.
Might be time for a new mission statement, no?
https://twitter.com/MadCaliph/status/373128850118803456
– @buzzfeedben's entire explanation for not covering Booker's imaginary friend is using Internet buzzwords he doesn't quite understand.
— #NeverTrump (@OrwellForks) August 29, 2013
The buzzwords @buzzfeedben is using do not make the point he's trying to make. It's like no-nothing exec running around yelling "synergy!"
— #NeverTrump (@OrwellForks) August 29, 2013
@redsteeze @buzzfeedben Dude, but [buzzword] and [buzzword]. Can't believe you didn't realize that.
— #NeverTrump (@OrwellForks) August 29, 2013
– @buzzfeedben can't cover a hilarious story about a politician that has people talking bc the Internet has shifted from aggregate to social
— #NeverTrump (@OrwellForks) August 29, 2013
Does @BuzzFeedBen realize how fucking stupid he sounds? SYNERGY!
— #NeverTrump (@OrwellForks) August 29, 2013
@BuzzFeedBen So your policy going forward is Buzzfeed doesn't report on things already found on Twitter? What about found on Reddit?
— Stephen Miller (@redsteeze) August 29, 2013
@BuzzFeedBen Because pretty sure that would put you out of business.
— Stephen Miller (@redsteeze) August 29, 2013
@RBPundit @BuzzFeedBen Yes see we don't do stories on things on the Internet other people have done..Oh wait that's exactly our whole site
— Stephen Miller (@redsteeze) August 29, 2013
I mean, @BuzzFeedBen could assign someone to do a GIF listicle about @CoryBooker's imaginary friend, but that's below BuzzFeed, apparently.
— RBe (@RBPundit) August 29, 2013
@missADelgado No, Ben Smith said they don't do aggregation anymore. @mchastain81 @BuzzFeed
— RBe (@RBPundit) August 29, 2013
My, how things have changed.
cc @BuzzFeedBen RT @Wittorical Buzzfeed made Miley Cyrus GIF's even though they were already on the internet…huh.
— RBe (@RBPundit) August 29, 2013
Things I saw on Twitter before they appeared on BuzzFeed -> http://t.co/GMoK7Xlzjo cc @BuzzFeedBen
— RBe (@RBPundit) August 29, 2013
Things I saw on Twitter before they appeared on BuzzFeed -> http://t.co/fZF3qQpYzH cc @BuzzFeedBen
— RBe (@RBPundit) August 29, 2013
.@BuzzFeedBen I just linked TWO stories written up by BuzzFeed writers that I saw on Twitter before you guys wrote them. Try harder.
— RBe (@RBPundit) August 29, 2013
Things I saw on Twitter before they appeared on BuzzFeed -> http://t.co/yFe17Ve8fB cc @BuzzFeedBen
— RBe (@RBPundit) August 29, 2013
Shall I continue, @BuzzFeedBen? Or will you just admit you really didn't want to give the Cory Booker story attention?
— RBe (@RBPundit) August 29, 2013
Hold up — maybe Smith has a good excuse:
Maybe Buzzfeed is an imaginary website and so reporting on imaginary friends is a conflict of interest. @BuzzFeedBen @RBPundit
— AgainstTrumpDude (@TheAmishDude) August 29, 2013
@BuzzFeedBen BAhahhahahahha. Really, you should skip ignoring and denying it. Go straight to "the people don't care." @sschubart @redsteeze
— #NeverTrump (@lheal) August 29, 2013
https://twitter.com/MadCaliph/status/373122563313897473
Any of those things could be true. But none of it matters because Smith and his buddies can deflect:
@MadCaliph @TwitchyTeam really sleeping on the job today @redsteeze @RBPundit cc @BuzzFeedAndrew
— Ben Smith (@BuzzFeedBen) August 29, 2013
@BuzzFeedBen @MadCaliph @TwitchyTeam @redsteeze @RBPundit We haven't been Twitched™© in a while now.
— andrew kaczynski (@BuzzFeedAndrew) August 29, 2013
@BuzzFeedAndrew @BuzzFeedBen @MadCaliph @TwitchyTeam @redsteeze @RBPundit Totally #bensmithing this story
— McKay Coppins (@mckaycoppins) August 29, 2013
Hilarious!
https://twitter.com/MadCaliph/status/373127011012603904
Yeah, we are such amateurs. BuzzFeed, on the other hand, takes its journalism very seriously. Earlier this morning, McKay Coppins actually did deign to acknowledge Eliana Johnson’s real journalism:
So @CoryBooker made up a "street character" to add drama to his stump stories. Awesome. http://t.co/ctdpUVl1to
— McKay Coppins (@mckaycoppins) August 29, 2013
But the “awesome” story that he rightly thought worthy of tweeting about (“social distribution of content”!) didn’t merit any BuzzFeed coverage. Maybe he’s just brainstorming for later:
Relax, folks. Word is @BuzzFeedBen tapped @mckaycoppins for a piece on how Cory Booker's imaginary friend is tearing GOP apart.
— RBe (@RBPundit) August 29, 2013
@redsteeze @buzzfeedben Once @mckaycoppins finishes his piece tying T-Bone to the GOP, it will be front page.
— #NeverTrump (@OrwellForks) August 29, 2013
No need to wait! BuzzFeed’s Andrew Kaczynski is on it!
Oh look who came to the rescue https://t.co/BziMClj2TY cc @RBPundit
— Stephen Miller (@redsteeze) August 29, 2013
This is a great story on Cory Booker by @elianayjohnson of course. Worth a read. http://t.co/IhyqPvniT3
— andrew kaczynski (@BuzzFeedAndrew) August 29, 2013
Nice save, Andrew!
If you had Buzzfeed Andrew in the pool..You won the kitten.
— Stephen Miller (@redsteeze) August 29, 2013
Ooo… a kitten! BuzzFeed loooooves kittens. Cats are real news.
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