The document outlines 5 steps to crush a platform by listening to audience signals and continually experimenting and iterating content. Step 1 is to listen to what the platform emphasizes, like YouTube's focus on watch time over views. Step 2 is to also not just listen and think differently, like how Snapchat focuses on quality over what's most popular. Step 3 is to read between the lines on platform changes, like how Buzzfeed realized short, engaging videos would thrive on Facebook's autoplay changes. Step 4 is to set up frameworks to rapidly test ideas. Step 5 is to closely examine data from tests to inform new experiments and iterations. Tasty videos and Worth It are used as examples that followed this process of listening, thinking differently

1. How To Crush A Platform
In 5 Easy Steps
Michelle Kempner
Vice President, Operations
@mikey_k

2. How To Crush A Platform
In 5 Easy Steps
Michelle Kempner
Vice President, Operations
@mikey_k
Hello! I’m Michelle! 👋
I do operations at BuzzFeed.
Not this kind. But this kind:

3. 3
Jun ‘17 Tubular. Jun ‘17 FB Audiences.. Jan-Jun ‘17 SC edition snaps, :3s FB Video Views, YT Views, BuzzFeed.com articles. Q2 ‘17 Google Analytics Avg.Monthly UVs. Jun ‘17 Tubular FB views all Tasty pages

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IT DOES NOT
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We have small teams of autonomous
people focusing on specific goals, but
with the ability to experiment and
make content that they are interested
in.
Teams are lean and experimental so
they can quickly test data hypotheses
fairly quickly. Flexibility is key.
How we’re setup

5. What’s our secret?

6. Step 1:
Listen to the platform.

7. In 2012, YouTube made the decision to
change their focus from views to watch
time.
Since then, YouTube has encouraged
creators to focus on having good
watch time as an indication of success.
Watchtime over views.
We realized that if we made the viewer click
that many times, it didn’t seem to be a good
estimate of how much value they were
deriving from YouTube. Instead, we realized
that if they didn't leave a video and continued
watching, that seemed like a better estimate of
the value they were getting.
Cristos Goodrow speaking to Business Insider
“
“

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● Views are hyper visible on a video
● Views are easy to understand
● Views are tied to pre-roll aka $$$
● Views are addictive!
When we look at our top content by
views, the titles include words like sex,
porn and partial nudity. Also, the
content doesn’t have the best watch
time, indicating it might not be what
the viewer was hoping for.
But views...

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Keeping Up With The Updates.
In 2015, YouTube updated the
dashboard to show watchtime
by default and pushed views
down the page.
“Watch Time is the new black.”

10. We focus on watchtime.

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YouTube Watch Minutes:

12. YouTube Subscriber Growth:

13. Step 2:
Don’t listen to the platform.

14. Snapchat Discover
Social media companies tell us what to
read based on what’s most recent or
most popular. We see it differently. We
count on editors and artists, not clicks
and shares, to determine what’s
important.
Team Snapchat
“
“

15. Sharing is the clearest metric for showing that media is creating a social
connection between people. It is why we obsess about “share statements,” or
what people say when they share our content. It explains why we carefully
study the exchange of value that occurs when sharing happens: What is the
value for the person who shares? What is the value for the person who
receives? And what does the activity mean for the bond they share with each
other? Understanding the inherently social nature of media is one of the
biggest “digital advantages.”
“
“
– Jonah Peretti, CEO
Sharing is so much more than caring!

20. Step 3:
Read between the lines.

21. Native video on Facebook
Facebook introduced native
video to the platform.
They announced that videos would:
Auto-Play
No Sound
3–Second Views

22. FB 40 initiative
BuzzFeed responded to the news by
thinking what type of content would
thrive in this environment.
It would have to be:
● Audio independent
● Very quick engagement
● Short ~40 seconds or less
● Quick to produce

23. Tasty is born
BuzzFeed launched Tasty in
the summer of 2015.
The top down single recipe
videos took advantage of
the benefits of 3 second
autoplay and a newsfeed
discover mechanism.

24. Tasty is about social
Tasty was started by social experts,
not seasoned chefs.
Andrew Gauthier
BuzzFeed
Executive Producer
Adam Bianchi
BuzzFeed
Senior Producer

25. 68B+ lifetime video views across
Facebook, YouTube and Instagram
4.3B+ views and in 2017 Q1
108M+ engagements in 2017 Q1
1 in 4 Facebook users reached
worldwide
50%+ of Facebook users reached in the
U.S. monthly
46% of US Facebook users (ages 18+)
have viewed a Tasty video in the past year

26. More Off-Shoots

27. Step 4:
Set up a framework
for experimentation.

28. BuzzFeed.com

29. Test Frames and Follow Up on Success — Short Girls
Buzzfeed.com
Published Sept 2014
YouTube
Published Dec 2014

30. Test and Follow Up - ~Awkward~
1.5M
1.3M
594k
2.2M
563k
130k

31. Step 5:
Look at data & do it all again.

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We have a number of ways for
employees to look at data.
This is my favorite dashboard
because it shows performance
relative to where the content was
published. We can see if
something is trending on a page
no matter the size, location or
language of the content.
Data Culture

33. Data & iteration in practice
For example, we built Worth It by listening to audience signals
and combining beloved frames.

34. tl;dr: Listen
Don’t listen
Read between the lines
1
2
3
4
5
Experiment
Repeat

35. Thank You!