Why BuzzFeed is not covering biz news — yet

Jason Del Rey of Advertising Age writes about why BuzzFeed, which earlier this year was looking for business journalists, has not launched its business news coverage yet.

Del Rey writes, “Is business news simply not compelling enough to spread across the social web on the scale that BuzzFeed is used to? The complexity of the subject could present one challenge, something that has become apparent in web traffic trends to BuzzFeed political stories. ‘Politics was huge around the election and has fallen off as the discussion of the fiscal cliff intensified,’ Mr. Smith said.

“In a follow-up email, however, Mr. Smith said he’s sure that there is room for BuzzFeed to put its stamp on business coverage.

“‘We’re looking to do business, as we do everything, in a deliberate, social-first way, and are taking the time to figure out how to do great reporting in that space that’s well-suited for social distribution,’ he wrote. ‘We aren’t rushing to check boxes. But we’re convinced that there’s a space in the social conversations for compelling and web-native business reporting, so business is in the cards for [next] year, and I’m continuing to have regular conversations with great business reporters.’

“Mr. Smith said advertiser demand, or lack thereof, plays no role in how he decides what areas BuzzFeed will tackle. ‘My goal in choosing verticals was first to make content that would become part of existing vibrant social conversations,’ he wrote, ‘and, second, to plant stakes in a varied range of spaces with an eye to attracting new audiences and spreading on new platforms.'”

Read more here.