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By Stephen Lepitak | -

September 16, 2014 | 2 min read

BuzzFeed founder and CEO Jonah Peretti has lamented other publications attempting to copy its format, claiming that they are “missing” the direction of improvements that it is attempting to make and harming the quality of their own content.

Speaking to The Drum, Peretti discussed the influence that BuzzFeed had had on the publishing world in recent years, claiming that it had improved mobile friendly page design, with major publications such as the Washington Post and the New York Times following suit.

“We’ve also seen some companies see what BuzzFeed is doing and seen the success we are having and tried to copy it and do second-rate BuzzFeed content,” he said, claiming that it was unfortunate as they were not making the same improvements for users every day, but looking to keep up.

As for what he thought about the difficult of making great content, he added: “A lot of people say ‘journalism is really hard but a collection of cute kittens must be really easy. Anyone can do that!’ Actually there is more competition to make the definitive collection of cute kittens than there is most journalism.”

Peretti elaborated by comparing online content creation to making a Hollywood movie.

“People should realise that this stuff is actually harder than it looks,” he stated.

Last week, BuzzFeed's new president, Greg Coleman, revealed to The Drum that the company’s recent investment of £50m would be used towards acquisition and expansions plans.

Jonah Peretti New York Times BuzzFeed

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