How ‘Going Viral Became A Thing

Danton in 2010 Coming to New York from San Francisco in 2002, Smith experienced what he referred to as a "sleep attack" and a belief that "blogging is the future". Along with reporter Elizabeth Spears, Denton took on veteran writers like Jessica Cohen and Emily Gould and brought together the rich and famous on his new platform, Gawker. Over the years, the site has admired its adversary through sport and bloodshed, and in the 2010s it was overtaken by two formidable forces: right-wing billionaire Peter Thiel and Love.

Thiel, according to Smith, once criticized Denton for calling him "weird" and "paranoid". He secretly financed a lawsuit over the infamous sex tape leak that bankrupted Gawker. But, according to Smith's humorous note, it was Denton who fell in love with her now husband, Derrance Washington, who drained the Gawker project's batteries. Romance, suggests Smith, distracts from sophistication and her personal taste for pure sophistication.

Peretti, meanwhile, joins Ariana Huffington, Andrew Breitbart, and Kenneth Lehrer at The Huffington Post, which was originally conceived as a progressive alternative to the Drudge Report. Fresh out of the MIT Media Lab, Peretti worked his magic, driving traffic to catapult struggling websites to box office stars. It was sold to AOL in 2011 for $315 million.

When Smith took over as editor-in-chief of BuzzFeed News, Peretti then moved on full-time to create BuzzFeed. Peretti was closely involved with Facebook when the Wyoming poll went viral, while Smith, who came to BuzzFeed from Politico, looked for ways to drive traffic to political reporting.

The competition between BuzzFeed and Gawker is conceived as a battle of ideas. BuzzFeed in its early years was all about Disney princesses, adorable pets, and toxic positivity, while Gawker thrived on tabloid-style revelations and outrage. Politico captures the heated debate between "sarcasm and deceit". And unlike previous New York literary bouts, Norman Mailer and Gore Vidal Who? - It is possible to win with determination. With numbers. Gawker booed, BuzzFeed booed, and the winner is the post with the most clicks, views, likes, shares, comments, and of course complaints.

The beast's secret formula went viral