The Good, the Bad, and the BuzzFeed

BY ADI RAMAN '23

Ah, BuzzFeed. Where millennials gather to share their Hogwarts Houses? Perhaps. The media company has received a lot of attention for one reason or another, as demonstrated by their

YouTube channel’s success...until all of their popular employees quit (cue the “Why I Left BuzzFeed” videos). BuzzFeed’s website, however, is loaded with assorted quizzes. They can be very helpful; that is, if you’re looking to find out what type of cake you are. In January 2019, BuzzFeed laid off many of their quiz-creating employees due to an influx of quizzes created by users themselves. I took the liberty of perusing said quizzes to evaluate their applicability to you, dear reader and compiled some here. You’re welcome.

Everything will be rated out of 5 for both usefulness and accuracy.

“Be An Art Snob For A Day To Reveal Your True Inner Animal”

The quiz has some classics such as “Starry Night,” the “Mona Lisa,” and “Girl with a Pearl Earring.” At the very least, it was kind of like walking through an art exhibit. I’m an eagle, apparently. Do with that information what you will.
 
Rating: 2.5/5. It’s nothing special, but a promising start on our journey through the BuzzFeed quiz multiverse.
 
 “Go On A Diagon Alley Shopping Spree & We'll Give You A Cool Book To Read” (note: this quiz has since been deleted.)

I mean, come on. We couldn’t rate BuzzFeed quizzes without a Harry Potter-themed one. As the name suggests, the questions focus on what items you’d buy from Diagon Alley, including brooms, clothing, and potions. I have now learned that I should read “Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.” I’m not sure how helpful that was to me personally considering I’ve already read the book, but I appreciate the thought behind this unconventional book recommendation method.
 
Rating: 4.5/5. I have to acknowledge the surprising applicability of this quiz.
 
“What Piece of IKEA Furniture Are You” 
 
Well, they couldn’t all be good. Call me a skeptic, but I find it hard to believe that BuzzFeed can compare me to such a nuanced and complicated thing like IKEA furniture with only my favorite pattern, holiday, and HGTV show (Flip or Flop is the best one, Tarek and Christina’s marriage problems aside. You’re deluded if you say Property Brothers). At the very least, I can now go around telling everyone that I’m a Regolit floor lamp. Riveting.
 
Rating: 0.75/5. There’s a reason why this was the only one out of the three that wasn’t approved and edited by the BuzzFeed Community Team.
 
I guess I can say that I did not expect for there to be some use in taking a BuzzFeed quiz, but I’m not sure how impressive that is considering how low the bar was in the first place. However, some of them most certainly fell in line with my initial perceptions (I’m looking at you, IKEA lamp). So, BuzzFeed quizzes. Many love to hate them. I love to hate them. And now, albeit with a few diamonds in the rough, I can officially conclude that they are pretty useless after all.
 

 

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