Ladies and gentlemen, we have reached peak BuzzFeedification.
By “BuzzFeedification” I refer to the recent onslaught of articles that fit BuzzFeed’s style (i.e. full of GIFs and memes) and/or follow the get-as-many-ad-impressions-as-possible model, which has been adopted by many publishers at the moment – more and more by the day, it seems – in an attempt to get that elusive click.
I came across one article that ticked all the usual boxes…
- Unnecessary multi-page image listicle? Check.
- Memes? UGH. Check.
- Goes on for much longer than it needs to in order to try and accrue more ad impressions? Oh god yes check.
…and is simply one of the most frustrating and pointless articles I’ve ever read. The things publishers will do to get you to click and get you to view ads is becoming laughable.
The article and site in question (which I’ve nofollowed because I sure as sh*t don’t want to give them any SEO love)? “A Woman Makes A Shrine Of Her Used Condom Collection” on Rebel Circus.
Let’s take the time to dissect what’s wrong with this absolute sh*tshow:
They’ve turned a simple one-page story into an unnecessary multi-pager
Below the heading and opening summary, there’s a small paragraph about the ‘collection’ and an image of said collection. Below that, there’s a ‘Next Photo’ link:
Ok, fair enough. So far so good – no harm done.
The inclusion of the ‘Next Photo’ link led me to believe two things:
- It’s a multi-page image slideshow article (or whatever the technical term is), but more importantly,
- That there’d be more photos of the collection – and more information.
Click onto page 2 and you get this:
…An image of a record collection? Alrighty then.