Sometimes, it can suck to be a brand. Last week, it was reported by MediaPost.com that BuzzFeed froze brand publisher accounts for its community publishing platform, which ended unpaid content opportunities for brands that used the site for content marketing.
BuzzFeed didn’t respond to a request for comments based on changes made to its editorial polices for brands, the director of audience development for HarperCollins, Jim Hanas, did confirm that his company got a notice.
“We were enthusiastic early adopters of the platform in June 2013, and, yes, we received notice from Buzzfeed that their policy was changing, essentially barring brands from publishing in the community,” said Hanas.
HarperCollins created 72 community posts since they started using Buzz Feed less than two years ago with much success on the platform.
“We had one post early on that had more than one million views, and we were regularly seeing posts get more than 100K,” said Hanas.
A BuzzFeed rep told MediaPost.com that the BuzzFeed Community platform “has been evolving over many years.” They stated that they won’t allow posts that try selling something, including a political or commercial agenda any longer.
This has to be a play at the hands of BuzzFeed to utilize their sponsored ad opportunities. So if brands want to try selling anything on the site, they have to shell out the dough for it.