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The new BuzzFeed News site is interesting. For one, the front page has traditional programmatic standard ads. Which the BuzzFeed standard page does not.
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Didn't mean to imply Buzzfeed prime has no programmatic, just that I didn't see any on the home page. Sorry if anyone misconstrued! clineamb/1019654233614938112
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Also It has its own URLs but also they have mapped links on BuzzFeed.com, like: https://www (dot) buzzfeed (dot) com/josephbernstein/lane-davis-ralph-retort-seattle4truth-alt-right
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But change buzzfeed to buzzfeednews in traditional URLs and so far as I've seen it redirects. I'm not sure why some stuff on BuzzFeed's home page *is* BuzzFeed standard and not news. Like why not this one, which has the old BuzzFeed news logo? buzzfeed.com/patricksmith/a-secret-service-agent-has-died-after-suffering-a-stroke?utm_term=.uknAqWalR#.gtbowAmd3
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i18n is definitely hard. Makes sense! I hadn't realized the Buzzfeed News site launch was US only right now. kzasada/1019658036451962880
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*not
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Also, window.BZFD, one of their system's primary JS objects appears to be ordered differently on BuzzFeed News and lack some of the content in BuzzFeed standard.
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BuzzFeed News doesn't have its own search either? Perhaps the content still resides in a shared database between the sites? Or if they do plan to make a move to a different database the move isn't complete?
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A notable part of the window.BZFD object missing on BFN is the properties related to community posts so: only professional journalists will be appearing on BuzzFeed News.
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Worth noting that BFN, like BF Standard, uses AMP but not Facebook IA.
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Useful background here: davisshaver/1019585207593328645
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One of the reasons I'm looking at this stuff is to examine the question below. Is the birth of a standalone website a biz reason as much as a journalism one? mathewi/1019565320997167104
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They seem to strongly indicate this is a question of clarity for readers: techcrunch.com/2018/07/18/buzzfeed-news/
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And considering the issues around URLs and "news sites" all social networks (especially Facebook) are dealing with, there might be strong strategic-technical reasons to put news on its own URL.
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So the question to next address is does the site show enough technical distinctiveness to indicate that 'spinning it off' is something that was baked into the build?
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There is... of course... no way to know for sure. And they might have launched without a stronger technical separation in place, but ready to roll out over the next few days, something to keep an eye on.
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A surface examination of the code on display would seem to indicate that, at this moment, the site lacks the technical or storage distinctiveness to stand on its own outside of BF's technical infrastructure.
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So unless either of those things appear to change in the near future, I'd say the answer to mathewi's question is that this change is not in anticipation of a spin off.
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Or it could be, but just a poorly planned one.
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A great note here linking to how micro services are behind the flexibility that allows for the launch of the BuzzFeed News site in this way - clineamb/1019654942787817473