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Secret to virality? Copy what works.

Slow-mo replay of last week's Slate dissection of BuffFeed virality:

Every big hit at BuzzFeed seems to follow the same template: A writer would find popular stuff somewhere on the Web ("most often at Reddit"), find other images and examples from the rest of the Web, and publish a more comprehensive piece.

"The secret to [BuzzFeed's] viral success is to find stuff that's already a minor viral success and make it better," Manjoo wrote. "Repeat the process enough, and you're bound to get a few mega-hits."

"That's not genius. It's a machine."

Why isn't the Reddit community more angry with BuzzFeed for ripping it off?

See also how BuzzFeed makes viral hits in four easy steps.

10:40 PM Jul 01 2012

I guess Redditors don't mind if others use the content they curate.

6:11 PM Oct 15 2012

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