Sample assignment provided by Meltwater for students to incorporate a Buzzfeed exercise while using Meltwater's software.

1. 1
BuzzFeed Assignment

2. 2
Project Overview
You are BuzzFeed’s Newest
WriterDevelop a BuzzFeed post about tourism
attractions in your universities city
Research Popular Tourist
AttractionsUse Meltwater to research popular news
articles about attractions and to track
attractions social media trendsDevelop a Presentation and
PaperMonitor peoples reaction to your post and
write a paper outlining the process

3. Authors’ Tips on
Writing a Blog

4. 4
Author Tips
• As Kandinsky says, "Everything starts with
a dot." Sometimes the hardest thing in
writing a story is where to start. You
don't need to have a great idea, you just
have to put pen to paper. Start with a bad
idea, start with the wrong direction,
start with a character you don't like,
something positive will come out of it.
– Marion Deuchars, illustrator and
author of Let’s
Make Some Great Art
• It's important to be inspired by other
writers and sources, but when it comes to
the actual writing, I swear by going into
Tunnel Vision Mode. Pretend nothing else
exists but you and your idea. Don't
compare and don't despair.
– Emma Gannon, author of Ctrl Alt Delete:

5. 5
Select 10 Attractions
• Choose attractions that
will be appealing to
the typical Buzzfeed
audience
• Ex: trendy
destinations off the
beaten path
• Each attraction also
must have social media
or news coverage so you
can include hyperlinks

6. Choose a Format

7. 7
• Traditional
newspaper article
• Photos and videos
embedded in the
article
Regular
Post • Short-form of
writing that uses a
list as its
thematic structure
Listicle
• Get the reader to
engage with your
content
• Give them fun results
Quiz

8. Research
Content

9. 9
How to Find Relevant News
Articles
• Conduct detailed searches on Meltwater to
find articles about tourist attractions
in your city
• The link below shows how to search for
relevant news articles about the
Exploratorium in San Francisco within the
last 30 days, sorting the articles by
reach
• Watch This!.

10. Deliverables

11. 11
BuzzFeed Post Requirements
• The post must
incorporate a minimum
of 5 hyperlinks to
images, articles, or
videos relating to
your post
• Your Post will be
graded on quality,
creativity, and
partly on how many
views your post
obtains over a 30 day
span.

12. 12
Reflection Paper: Due Date XXX
• What qualities make a popular
Buzzfeed post?
• How would you change your approach
after seeing the number of views and
comments you received?
• What do you think has lead to
Buzzfeed’s huge spike in popularity
over the past couple years?