Sure, content here on HN can be it or miss but I think the diversity of the content is what saves it from the "Intrigue/Disappointment" loop that I suggested for BuzzFeed.
As a personal anecdote, my Gen-Z sister used to be glued to the screen with almost all of her tabs on BuzzFeed or BuzzFeed Video. She eventually grew bored of it and now spends her time on TikTok. She told me she felt like BuzzFeed started feeling too formulaic and familiar while TikTok is vastly more engaging / authentic. My personal hunch is that TikTok offers much more variety.
Looking at the home page just now, BuzzFeed doesn’t seem to make outlandish claims or promises in the headline or accompanying image that aren’t then delivered in the article.
It’s all pretty silly, of course, but the content seems to match the headline in the items I clicked on. This makes sense if the goal is to get folk sharing BuzzFeed content on social media: if the content was a letdown, it wouldn’t be shared.
I seem to remember Ben Thompson talking about this common misconception on his podcast years ago.
I believe they are conditioning their users to be interested and then let-down after each article, listicle, video, piece of content, etc. They seem to be doing well in the short term, but I do not think their business model / hotness will last into the future.