But to BuzzFeed Executive Editor Doree Shafrir, who is leading the hiring search, the idea that there are “fun” posts and “other” posts is an antiquated way of thinking. Instead, BuzzFeed requires three things of each story: that it entertain, inform, and manifest itself as something people want to share with their friends.
“Almost everyone always wants to talk about this split, which I feel is sort of a false dichotomy,” Shafrir says. “Why should we take for granted that a sort of quote, unquote ‘longform,’ serious piece won’t be shared on social media, as if the two things can’t exist in one ecosystem? I think that’s an old frame of thinking, and we’re trying to break out of it.”
From here.
I don’t know if the Internet is willing to accept the idea that longform journalism is going to make a comeback, but I like the idea that more and more people are willing to at least consider it (Things like this, Byliner, and Kindle Singles make me hope that there’s going to be some way of not only making longform journalism a going concern, but also a profitable one. Just imagine, as the saying goes).