Facing a severe business crisis, the former digital media giant BuzzFeed is trying to launch an aggressive "self-rescue experiment" through artificial intelligence (AI). At the recent SXSW conference, BuzzFeed co-founder and CEO Jonah Peretti announced the establishment of a subsidiary called Branch Office, aiming to redefine the "software as content" business model through a series of AI-driven consumer applications.

Core Product Portfolio: The Combination of Meme and Social Media

Branch Office has showcased three core applications, attempting to capture fragmented attention in the mobile internet era:

  • BF Island: A group chat platform integrated with AI photo editing features. Its core competitiveness is not the technology itself, but an internal online trend and meme library maintained by BuzzFeed's editorial team. Users can easily generate creative images related to the latest hot topics (such as "McDonald's CEO tasting" or "frame collision" events) using AI.

  • Conjure: An app humorously referred to as the "AI version of BeReal." It guides users to take pictures of specific everyday things (like "trees and the moon") through strange voice commands (such as "What would you conjure?"), and is involved in application decisions by a so-called "AI CEO," with a highly experimental style.

  • Quiz Party: Socializes BuzzFeed's signature fun tests, allowing users to participate in tests with friends and share results in real time.

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Severe Financial Background

The pressure behind this strategic transformation is evident. Just days before the announcement, BuzzFeed admitted in its financial report that there was a "significant doubt" about the company's ability to continue operations. In the 2025 fiscal year, the company suffered a net loss of $57.3 million and is currently facing liquidity challenges. Peretti believes that AI can significantly shorten the software development cycle, allowing the company to iterate apps quickly like content, thus maintaining user engagement.

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Market Reaction: Cold and Doubtful

Despite BuzzFeed's enthusiasm for the vision of "software as content," the feedback at the SXSW event was quite awkward. During the demonstration, the audience showed little reaction, even resulting in an uncomfortable silence. Attendees generally questioned: under the circumstances where pioneering products like BeReal have struggled with user attrition and eventually were acquired by Voodoo