Neetzan Zimmerman

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Neetzan Zimmerman (born 1981) is an American journalist and blogger known for focusing on "viral" internet content. He worked for Gawker from April 2012 through January 2014, and then later served as editor-in-chief at start-up company "Whisper". He was senior director of audience and strategy at the DC publication The Hill from 2015 to 2018, and is currently employed by Lightspeed Venture partners. [1] [2]

Contents

Biography

Neetzan Zimmerman was raised on a left-leaning kibbutz in Israel. After completing his mandatory service for the Israel Defense Forces in Gaza, he moved to the United States to study at Boston University. [3] Zimmerman did not have many friends growing up, so ever since his teenage years he has spent much of his time on the Internet. [4] In 2008, Zimmerman created a Tumblr blog titled The Daily What, where he collected popular posts online, while bored at work. With a passion for viral posts and Internet memes, Zimmerman strived to treat them with the same seriousness as a journalist would with news on The Daily What. Know Your Meme credits the blog with popularizing the video "Double Dream Hands" and Rebecca Black's 2011 song "Friday" into viral Internet memes. [5] [6]

In

Blogger career

Zimmerman was hired by Gawker in April 2012. [7] He specializes in finding high-traffic content. According to a December 2013 profile in The Wall Street Journal , Zimmerman's Gawker posts are generating in excess of 30 million hits per month, essentially subsidizing the ability of Gawker journalists to pursue more in-depth content. [6] [8]

Previously, Zimmerman ran "The Daily What", which he founded in 2008 as a website for aggregating viral content. He ran that site on a mostly one-person basis for about three years, while still working for publishing firm Wiley-Blackwell, and eventually becoming his full-time job. The site was bought by the I Can Has Cheezburger? network in 2010. [7] [9] [10]


On January 14, 2015, it was announced that Zimmerman would be leaving Whisper after a series of accusations involving the company's editorial practices. [11] [12]

Those accusations were later retracted and a lengthy correction was issued by The Guardian. [13]

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References

  1. ↑ (16 January 2015). The Hill names Neetzan Zimmerman senior director, audience and strategy
  2. ↑ "Neetzan Zimmerman". Lightspeed Venture Partners. Retrieved 2019-12-10.
  3. ↑ Smith, Ben (May 29, 2023). "Neetzan Zimmerman's last hurrah". Semafor . Retrieved March 12, 2024.
  4. ↑ Bloomgarden-Smoke, Kara (January 3, 2014). "Neetzan Doesn't Like to Be Called a Machine' Zimmerman Leaving Gawker". Observer . Retrieved March 13, 2024.
  5. ↑ Phelps, Andrew (June 11, 2012). "What makes something go viral? The Internet according to Gawker's Neetzan Zimmerman". NiemanLab . Retrieved March 13, 2024.
  6. 1 2 Manjoo, Farhad (December 1, 2013). "Why Everyone Will Totally Read This Column" . The Wall Street Journal . Retrieved March 13, 2024.
  7. 1 2 Coscarelli, Joe (11 April 2012). The Daily What Founder Neetzan Zimmerman Grows Out of Memes, Moves to Gawker, New York (magazine)
  8. ↑ Yarow, Jay (2 December 2013). CHART: There's One Guy At Gawker Obliterating Everyone Else In Traffic, Business Insider
  9. ↑ Chokski, Niraj (9 June 2010). Neetzan Zimmerman: What I Read, The Wire
  10. ↑ Breneman, John (28 December 2010). Brookline blogger offers Daily dose of cool, Boston Herald
  11. ↑ "Capitalnewyork.com". www.capitalnewyork.com.
  12. ↑ "Whisper Suspends Editorial Team Involved In Guardian Visit". TechCrunch. 26 October 2014. Retrieved 2019-12-10.
  13. ↑ Dwoskin, Elizabeth (11 March 2015). "Guardian Backpedals On Whisper App Privacy Violations". Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 2019-12-10.
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