This article was first published in the August 2015 issue of WIRED magazine. Be the first to read WIRED's articles in print before they're posted online, and get your hands on loads of additional content by subscribing online
Which country best suits your personality? Shaul Olmert knows. PlayBuzz, the 40-year-old Israeli's startup, is conquering Facebook with shareable quizzes such as "What is Your Spirit Emoji?" But its real lesson is the exponential power of virality. "In our first month we had 3,000 users," says Olmert. "In our second, 13,000. Third, three million. Fifth, 20 million." In January 2015, just over 12 months after its official launch, PlayBuzz overtook BuzzFeed and the Huffington Post to become the most-shared content source on Facebook, according to analytics firm NewsWhip.
The son of convicted former Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert -- currently appealing a six-year jail sentence for bribery – Olmert worked for MTV/Nickelodeon before launching a series of troubled startups. He founded PlayBuzz in July 2012 as a platform to let anyone create BuzzFeed-like listicles. Olmert soon embraced growth hacking (WIRED 09.14) – testing and iterating the design to increase shareability. "People ask us: how did you reverse engineer the Facebook News Feed algorithm?" he says. "The truth is we have no idea how it works. But we asked ourselves: what is Facebook trying to encourage? The answer is simple: mindful sharing." "The quiz is a very personal format," says PlayBuzz chief content officer Shachar Orren. "It creates a feeling of 'this is about me', and you're more likely to share it." Twenty thousand creators now post on PlayBuzz, along with high-profile brands. "We work with AOL, Fox, the Mirror, the Daily Telegraph, Sky..." says Olmert. "Many of them create amazing content. Some create mediocre content." PlayBuzz's ambition isn't to be a BuzzFeed clone, Olmert says, but a platform for content creators. "We always say that if content is king, the platform is the palace."
So what happens when Facebook inevitably alters its News Feed algorithm? "I tend not to live my life based on some disaster scenario," says Olmert. He points to his app's growth on Pinterest, Twitter and other social media, and an in-house team is also focused on developing new formats. Whatever form it takes, he says, "we'll be there to democratise it." And in case you're still wondering, Olmert should move to France.
This article was originally published by WIRED UK
