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Upworthy
Type of businessPrivate
Type of site
News and entertainment
Available inEnglish
FoundedMarch 14, 2012; 12 years ago (2012-03-14)[1]
HeadquartersLos Angeles, California,
United States
OwnerGood Worldwide
Founder(s)Eli Pariser and Peter Koechley
EditorEric Pfeiffer (Editor-in-chief)
CEOMax Schorr
URLupworthy.com
Current statusActive

Upworthy is a media brand that focuses on positive storytelling.[2]

It was started in March 2012 by Eli Pariser, the former executive director of MoveOn, and Peter Koechley, the former managing editor of The Onion. One of Facebook's co-founders, Chris Hughes, was an early investor. In 2017, the company was acquired by Good Worldwide. Between the two platforms, they reached 100MM people a month.[3][4][5][6]

History

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In October 2012 it raised $4 million from New Enterprise Associates and other angel investors, including BuzzFeed co-founder John Johnson, Facebook co-founder and New Republic owner Chris Hughes, and Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian.[7] It has worked with Unilever, Skype, CoverGirl, through its native ad business.[8][9][10]

Originally, Upworthy curators searched the internet for existing content to feature on the site.[11] Once selected as an option, curators brainstormed different headlines and shareable images for the content, and tested it with a small sample of Upworthy’s visitors before sharing it on the site.[11]

In June 2013, an article in Fast Company called Upworthy "the fastest growing media site of all time".[12]It had 8.7 million unique monthly visitors in the first six months,[13]and in November 2013, had a high of 87 million unique visitors in a single month.[14]That month, Upworthy announced a new global health and poverty section of content would join the site, through a partnership with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.[15]

The site popularized a style of two-phrase headlines.[15] It has been criticized for its use of overly sensationalized, emotionally manipulative, "clickbait" style, headlines as well as having a liberal bias, and simplifying issues that are controversial by nature.[16][17][18][19] Upworthy was accused of laying off one round of writers in 2015, and another in 2016, after an unionization effort by some of the staff. The union involved, the Writers Guild of America, East, has organized several online "viral" news publishers.[20]

In January 2017, Upworthy was acquired by GOOD Worldwide, a company that similarly focused on spreading progressive messages through their websites such as good.is. The newsrooms of the two organizations would merge as part of the acquisition. About 20 staffers were laid off as part of the merger.[21]

In March 2020, Upworthy saw a 65% increase in Instagram followers and a 47% increased interest in positive content on-site page views as a result of increased interest in positive content during the COVID-19 pandemic.[22]

Upworthy was ranked as one of the Top 100 Social Brands of 2021 (#38), and one of the Top 50 Brands by Cross-Platform Video Actions (#34) with 180.6 million and 49.7 million interactions, respectively.[23]

In January 2023, National Geographic Books bought GOOD PEOPLE: Stories From the Best of Humanity from Upworthy, with a publication date of September 3, 2024.[24] The book is described as “a heartwarming collection of first-person tales that will provide comfort and inspiration to anyone who could use a little dose of joy right now”. It was created by two senior Upworthy team members, Gabriel Reilich and Lucia Knell, and features 101 stories from Upworthy’s audience.[25][24] The co-creators encouraged Upworthy followers to connect with the brand through questions on their posts, opening the door for organic and personal stories to be shared in the comment sections.[26] The book debuted on the New York Times nonfiction bestseller list on September 22, 2024, and remained on the list for two weeks.[27][28] The book is seen in the top 10 on Publisher’s Weekly Fall 2024 Adult Preview: Lifestyle and on Washington Post’s “5 feel-good books”.[29][30]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "UpWorthy.com WHOIS, DNS, & Domain Info – DomainTools". WHOIS. Archived from the original on 2017-04-15. Retrieved 2016-07-23.
  2. ^ Lorenz, Taylor (2020-04-14). "The news is making people anxious. You'll never believe why". New York Times. Retrieved 2024-08-20.
  3. ^ Carr, David (March 26, 2012), "New Site Wants to Make the Serious as Viral as the Shallow", The New York Times, archived from the original on March 30, 2012, retrieved April 11, 2012
  4. ^ Pilkington, Ed (March 26, 2012), "New media gurus launch Upworthy – their 'super-basic' internet start-up", The Guardian, archived from the original on March 4, 2014, retrieved April 11, 2012
  5. ^ Gannes, Liz (March 26, 2012), Viral With a Purpose? Upworthy Finds Serious Web Content Worth Sharing., AllThingsD, archived from the original on March 30, 2012, retrieved April 11, 2012
  6. ^ "The woman behind Upworthy's viral explosion". Archived from the original on 24 January 2014. Retrieved 16 October 2014.
  7. ^ "Upworthy Raises $4M for Aggregating Virals That Aren't Cat Videos – Liz Gannes – Media – AllThingsD". AllThingsD. Archived from the original on 26 December 2014. Retrieved 21 December 2014.
  8. ^ Derek Thompson (14 November 2013). "Upworthy: I Thought This Website Was Crazy, but What Happened Next Changed Everything". The Atlantic. Archived from the original on 15 April 2017. Retrieved 21 December 2014.
  9. ^ "How Upworthy gets its branded content to outperform editorial". Digiday. 10 July 2014. Archived from the original on 15 December 2014. Retrieved 21 December 2014.
  10. ^ "Viral Content With a Liberal Bent". The New York Times. 14 October 2013. Archived from the original on 22 April 2017. Retrieved 28 February 2017.
  11. ^ a b Sanders, Sam (2017-06-20). "Upworthy Was One Of The Hottest Sites Ever. You Won't Believe What Happened Next". NPR. Retrieved 2024-08-02.
  12. ^ "How Upworthy Used Emotional Data To Become The Fastest Growing Media Site of All Time". Fast Company. 7 June 2013. Archived from the original on 14 November 2023. Retrieved 6 July 2015.
  13. ^ Lowenstein, Fiona. "Why you should pay attention to Upworthy measuring engagement in 'attention minutes'". Columbia Journalism Review. Retrieved 2024-08-19.
  14. ^ Sanders, Sam (2017-06-17). "Upworthy Was One Of The Hottest Sites Ever. You Won't Believe What Happened Next". NPR. Retrieved 2024-09-01.
  15. ^ a b "Why Are Upworthy Headlines Suddenly Everywhere?". The Atlantic. 8 December 2013. Archived from the original on 18 October 2017. Retrieved 6 July 2015.
  16. ^ Kaufman, Leslie (14 October 2013), "Viral Content with a Liberal Bent", The New York Times, archived from the original on 8 November 2013, retrieved March 12, 2014
  17. ^ James Ball (16 March 2014). "Read this to find out how Upworthy's awful headlines changed the web". the Guardian. Archived from the original on 23 October 2017. Retrieved 6 July 2015.
  18. ^ "Create Your Own Overly Emotional, Click-Baiting Headline With the Upworthy Generator". AdWeek. 20 November 2013. Archived from the original on 7 July 2015. Retrieved 6 July 2015.
  19. ^ Christopher Zara (11 December 2013). "The Rise Of Clickbait Spoilers: Bloggers Expose What's Behind Upworthy's Histrionic Headlines". International Business Times. Archived from the original on 7 July 2015. Retrieved 6 July 2015.
  20. ^ "Report: Upworthy's Lefty Owners Scared Employees Out of Unionization". 10 August 2015. Archived from the original on 21 May 2017. Retrieved 18 July 2017.
  21. ^ Sutton, Kelsey (January 27, 2017). "Upworthy to merge with Good Worldwide, newsrooms to consolidate. About 20 staffers were laid off as part of the merger". Politico. Archived from the original on November 14, 2023. Retrieved January 20, 2019.
  22. ^ Lorenz, Taylor (2020-04-14). "The News Is Making People Anxious. You'll Never Believe What They're Reading Instead". The New York Times. Retrieved 2024-09-04.
  23. ^ "The State of Social Media" (PDF). MediaPost. Retrieved 2024-08-20.
  24. ^ a b Deahl, Rachel (2022-12-30). "Book Deals: Week of January 2, 2023". Publishers Weekly. Retrieved 2024-07-15.
  25. ^ Vermillion, Stephanie (2024-06-17). "How to Find and Share Positive Stories". Adorama. Retrieved 2024-07-24.
  26. ^ Hunkins, Alain. "What Upworthy's New Book 'Good People' Teaches About Trust And Connection". Forbes. Retrieved 2024-12-18.
  27. ^ "Hardcover Nonfiction Books - Best Sellers - Books - Sept. 22, 2024 - The New York Times". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2024-11-27.
  28. ^ "Hardcover Nonfiction Books - Best Sellers - Books - Sept. 29, 2024 - The New York Times". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2024-11-27.
  29. ^ Grossman |, Miriam. "Fall 2024 Adult Preview: Lifestyle". PublishersWeekly.com. Retrieved 2024-12-11.
  30. ^ Meloan, Becky (October 19, 2024). "5 feel-good books to provide a distraction from election stress". Washington Post. Retrieved December 11, 2024.
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