BuzzFeed's Ze Frank and the Science of Viral Videos Explained

BuzzFeed, the social news website founded in 2006, has more than 85 million unique visitors to the site each month. That’s nearly triple the traffic the New York Times sees. And seven times more traffic than the gossip site TMZ sees each month.

BuzzFeed gained its audience with a mix of political scoops, links to viral videos and list based stories, like, “29 Adorable Ways To Dress Up With Your Dog This Halloween.” Now BuzzFeed is moving towards producing more original videos.

In September 2012 BuzzFeed hired Ze Frank to lead their video team based in Los Angeles.

Frank, who started publishing videos online in 2001, believes he has a formula for producing videos that compel viewers to share their links.

“Facebook and Twitter have been huge for the growth of BuzzFeed so far and YouTube has been the missing piece,” Buzzfeed CEO Jonah Peretti said in a statement announcing Frank was joining BuzzFeed . “Ze will lead the YouTube charge for us.”

In the video above Frank explains the “social frames for information” and what he believes triggers people to share content.