Buzzfeed首席执行官支招：传统报纸到底应该怎么转型？

    社会新闻媒体BuzzFeed拥有1.5亿热情的年轻读者，让许多传统传媒公司羡慕不已。今年早些时候，这家公司甚至吸引了一份来自迪斯尼公司(Disney)的收购要约。

    在科罗拉多州阿斯彭召开的《财富》科技头脑风暴大会(Fortune Brainstorm Tech)上，BuzzFeed创始人兼首席执行官乔纳•柏瑞迪表示，虽然即使BuzzFeed打算继续保持私营身份，但是迪斯尼依然是一家值得款待的公司。“（迪斯尼公司CEO）鲍勃•伊格尔是一个令人印象深刻的人，我喜欢跟他聊天，”他说。“如果有人能说服乔治•卢卡斯卖掉卢卡斯电影公司(Lucasfilm)，说服史蒂夫•乔布斯卖掉皮克斯动画工作室(Pixar)，那就非常值得跟他共进晚餐。”

    今年早些时候，BuzzFeed发布的《纽约时报创新报告》(New York Times Innovation Report)概述了“灰色女士 (译注：纽约时报别称)”在其转型为一家数字媒体公司的征途中所面临的种种挑战，引起了传媒界的巨大关注。这份报告多次提及BuzzFeed自身，以及Vox Media和Upworthy等数字媒体初创公司。

    柏瑞迪说，他实际上认为《纽约时报》对自身过于严苛。要是他来撰写这份报告，它就不会重点阐述《纽约时报》欠缺的各类高科技产品。他说：“他们面临的挑战不是需要增加一些竞争对手具备的功能，而是如何转向数字化。”

    “各类传媒公司经常犯的一个大错是，他们都想变成不符合自身业态特征的事物。人们总是迷恋（竞争对手）。如果你是一家电视台，你总想上线，实现酷酷的网络化生存，”他说。“如果你是一家在线媒体，你又打算购买和制作原创节目。”

    “总的来说，模仿BuzzFeed不是一个好战略，”柏瑞迪补充道。“走向成功的最优路径是，想一想自己真正擅长的东西，然后全力开拓这些领域。”

    《纽约时报》不可能效仿BuzzFeed最近在做的一件事情——删除一些旧文章。多媒体博客站点Gawker本周早些时候报道称，BuzzFeed在2010年到2011年期间发布的某些文章已经从这个网站上消失了，因为它们不符合该网站目前的“编辑标准。” 柏瑞迪在《财富》科技头脑风暴大会的舞台上发言称，这些文章源自BuzzFeed的早期版本。在后来聘请的总编本•史密斯的引领下，Buzzfeed已经转变为一家专业新闻机构。

    这些文章是在BuzzFeed成立新闻编辑部、编撰写作风格手册、组建一支记者团队之前发布的。“它差不多可以说是另一家公司的产品，”他说。“我们随后转型成了一家新闻机构——从一个实验室转变成了一家创造专业内容的新闻网站。”（财富中文网）

    译者：叶寒

    With its engaged audience of 150 million young readers, BuzzFeed has been the envy of many traditional media companies. Earlier this year, the company has even attracted an acquisition bid from Disney DIS -0.70% .

    At the Fortune Brainstorm Tech conference in Aspen, Colo. today, BuzzFeed’s founder and chief executive Jonah Peretti said Disney was worth entertaining, even if BuzzFeed plans to stay private. “[Disney CEO] Bob Iger is a very impressive guy, and I enjoy talking to him,” he said. “And if someone can convince George Lucas to sell Lucasfilm and Steve Jobs to sell Pixar, they’re worth having dinner with.”

    Earlier this year, BuzzFeed made waves in the media industry by publishing the New York Times Innovation Report, an internal document that outlines the paper’s challenges in transforming The Gray Lady into a digital media company. BuzzFeed itself was referred to several times in the report, along with digital media startups such as Vox Media and Upworthy.

    Peretti said he believes the Times was actually too hard on itself. If he were writing the report, it wouldn’t be focused on the various tech products that the Timeslacks. ”The challenge is not that they need some feature some competitor has. It would be about the shift to digital,” he said.

    “One big mistake people make across all of business is to want to become what you’re not. People get obsessed with [their competitors]. If you’re in TV, you want to be online and be cool and webby,” he said. “If you’re cool and webby, you want to buy and produce original shows,” he said.

    “Copying BuzzFeed in general is not a good strategy,” Peretti added. “The best way to success is to think of what you’re really good at and extend yourself in those areas.”

    One thing BuzzFeed did recently, which the New York Times would not likely copy, is delete some old articles. Earlier this week Gawker reported that several BuzzFeed posts from 2010 and 2011 had disappeared from the site because they did not meet the site’s current “editorial standards.” On stage at Brainstorm Tech today, Peretti said those posts were from an earlier version of BuzzFeed, before the company hired editor-in-chief Ben Smith to turn BuzzFeed into a professional news organization.

    Those posts were done before BuzzFeed had a copy desk, a style manual, and a team of reporters. “It was almost the product of a different company, like before our pivot,” he said. “[It was] before we pivoted to being a journalistic organization—from a lab to being a place that creates professional content.”