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?