BuzzFeed. Now often seen as one of the icons of peak millennial culture. But letâs be honest, if youâre in my age range (letâs say 18+), there was probably a point in time when you enjoyed taking BuzzFeed quizzes to find out which âDisney Princessâ or âHarry Potterâ character you are, or watching their YouTube videos from âThe Try Guysâ to âBuzzfeed Unsolvedâ or âBuzzfeed Tastyâ, (did anyone else having a weird obsession with watching that, even though theyâve never cooked in their life, or is that just me?) the likelihood is that tween/teen you was interacting with Buzzfeed. Now as Gen Z we love to pit ourselves against millennials, and BuzzFeed is seen as peak millennial cringe, BuzzFeed was actually a very central part of the YouTube/internet culture when the majority of Gen Z were starting to engage more with social media.
In fact, I was inspired to write this article by a TikTok I came across in one of my doomscroll sessions. The TikTok set to the song of âTongue Tiedâ was a showcase of pictures of many of the Buzzfeed icons having fun at their office, wearing their Buzzfeed t-shirts, and posing for pictures against some random wall (why did we think they made good insta backdrops?), with the caption being âthe life I was promisedâŠâ I have to admit the video did make feel a pang of nostalgia for the 2016, musically, life is good era, and the comments seemed to agree. Many were writing about how they wanted BuzzFeed to be their first job, and genuinely envisaged themselves working there, that Buzzfeed made them feel excited to join the âfun officeâ of the corporate world. But alongside this, commenters were also agreeing that now theyâve reached adulthood, working life is nowhere near as fun, and their 20s arenât going the way Buzzfeed said they would. Honestly, I scrolled through the comments for ages, because for me, as someone who grew up longing to be a YouTuber (lowkey still do), and dreaming for the days I could work at a âcool officeâ like Buzzfeed, and now has no idea what they want to do with life, these comments were super relatable. So, what happened? Where is the life that Buzzfeed promised?
Well, a few years on and now we know that Buzzfeed wasnât as magical as it seemed. In fact, since its peak weâve experienced a whole âWhy I Left Buzzfeedâ era where a whole host of BuzzFeed creators took to leaving the brand and distancing themselves from the personalities that BuzzFeed were upholding them to. Some of these creators were able to use their skills from their Buzzfeed days to successfully build their individual online presence, on their own terms. However some were more successful than others, like Safiya Nygaard, who quoted her overarching reason she left Buzzfeed was to have more independence. And letâs be real, although âWhy I Left Buzzfeedâ became somewhat of a meme/parody in itself, if you were someone who had been invested in and enjoyed engaging with BuzzFeed at some point, you were probably quite invested in what these creators had to say, and disappointed that the vision of working at BuzzFeed was not all what it seemed to be.
So where does that leave the BuzzFeed employee wannabes? Well, now weâve grown up and seen the state of the job market, I think Gen Zâs expectations for a fun millennial cringe office have definitely been lowered, and the fall of BuzzFeed was just the start of this. In todayâs job market, I think Gen Z just feel lucky and cling onto hopes to even find a job they somewhat enjoy/in line with their career path. Although, its not all doom and gloom, I think what this story of BuzzFeed shows is that no workplace is perfect, but that doesnât mean it canât have its fun moments and help you on your future career path.