The company’s algorithm had shifted to prioritize “engagement,” rather than giving a simple thumbs-up. We’d entered a new world, one that Facebook and its critics alike would sometimes conceal behind mystifying technical language, but which boiled down to two things: metrics based on how much people were sharing, clicking, and talking about a piece

Facebook had succeeded in identifying what people would truly, meaningfully interact with, the things they would share and talk about. Their algorithm was holding an ever-more-precise mirror up to Americans’ psyches, and intensifying their strongest reactions. But the company’s obsession with metrics, with giving people exactly what they would

BuzzFeed’s editors had learned through trial and error that social media was organized in large part around identities. Write compellingly about what it was like to be born in the 1990s, or to be an Iranian from New Jersey, or a Catholic girl, or to grow up with East Asian parents, and thousands of people would share the post with the magic words

People shared content that reflected well on them, he noted—they were more likely to share a post about earthquake relief than one about celebrity gossip. They shared content connected to their identity. They shared things that made them look clever and funny.

“we were over-optimistic on the timeline to transparency and the utopia that would inevitably result.” Even Nick Denton was disturbed by the forces he’d helped unleash. Looking for a precedent, Nick thought about the last revolution in information technology, which had happened just about two hundred miles north of Zurich, five hundred years

They cared who was reading, not how many. They measured themselves by the old standards of journalism: power, relevance, impact.

thought we were on the right side of the decade-old conflict between the transparent new internet and a legacy media whose power came in part from the information they withheld.

measuring interest and intent, and channeling it into action.

think about why people would share something—not just because they enjoyed it, but because the act of sharing would bring them closer to their friends, or say something about themselves.