Over the past few weeks I have gotten many emails regarding Foodbuzz and our community. I had too many questions, but not enough answers. So I went to the source, and contacted Foodbuzz directly.
I got an answer from Beth at Foofbuzz within an hour of my email, and we set up a live meeting to discuss the future of Foodbuzz and what role Food Bloggers were going to have with the redesigned community. I will tell you that I was not hurried, or put off at anytime and my questions and concerns were all addressed. Now this doesn’t mean that Beth had answers for everything, because Foodbuzz is still a work in progress and a lot of what happens will be determined through input from bloggers like ourselves that make up the community.
At present there are many viable options that are being looked into to restore our community networking system. My suggestion was a type of forum, where we could pose questions on various topics, bring up issues in our community, schedule meetups, or what ever might be on your mind, and have a dialog with fellow members. Of course these would have to be moderated and I’m sure Foodbuzz would look to us to help look after the forums. So if you have any ides at all this is your opportunity to be heard. You can send your suggestions or thoughts to Beth and her team at editorial@foodbuzz.com or food@dailybuzz.com.
Before I get into the new Daily Buzz, I do want you to understand why changes had to be made, and when you think about them I’m sure you’ll agree these were problem areas.
The amount of spammers setting up accounts had to be 20x that of legitimate accounts, and this was overloading the servers, which was why they were down so often. The inbox had grown into a nightmare, and believe me when you have 3500+ friends your inbox fills up faster than you can imagine. Stop and think about all of the bloggers and the incredible amount of post that were shared daily.
Now add in all of the extra shares by those members that really had no clue how to use Foodbuzz. They were sharing all of their images, re-sharing old posts and just making a real mess out of our inbox’s. Many of the new bloggers thought that by sharing everything they had would make us see just how amazing they we’re, and it would propel it would help them become the next superstar of the food blogging world….sigh Those of you that have been around long enough know that’s not how it works.
Then there were the problems with the servers being down too often, and not being able to share our posts. This caused many of us to re-share the same post a more times than necessary, thinking the problem was on our end. Now add all these problems together and you have a monster that was completely out of control and needed to be stopped. Do we miss it? I know I miss watching my posts climb in buzz rankings, and having an easy way to see my friends posts. But I certainly don’t miss the Inbox and the frustration of the system not working. And that my friends is one of the major reasons for the restructuring into the daily buzz.
The other reason was since Federated Media now owned Foodbuzz, they wanted them to be aligned with their policies and practices. Take it from someone who works for a huge corporation, when these orders come down from the top, whether they make any sense or not, they must be done.
And truthfully maybe they’re doing us a favor by changing the game. We are food bloggers, we love all the friends that we’ve made because of the community that Foodbuzz had created for us. But let’s face it, getting 150 comments on a blog post from all of our friends just makes us popular with other bloggers, and I’m not saying that’s a bad thing. I think that most of the time those are the people I blog for, those are the people I speak to when I tell my stories, because those are the people that seem to know me best….other bloggers……my dear friends. But when the dust settles for those of us that are looking to make this into more than just a hobby, we need to increase our visibility not to other bloggers but to regular people. We need to get out blogs read by real people looking for something new for dinner, or just for a little entertainment. This my friends is when your hits are going to increase, these people will give you visibility……not comments. They will tell their relatives, their neighbors, their coworkers and their friends about you, and when that happens you’ll see the results. So by taking away the inbox, Foodbuzz has actually given us a chance to use our time more productively, finding new readers, instead of just chasing the buzz.
The Daily Buzz
I know a lot of you are upset with the format that has replace our beloved Foodbuzz, but lets talk about the Daily Buzz for a few minutes.
The daily buzz now offers you more exposure than you could have imagined! Instead of just one Top 9 , that honestly never really made sense. We now have 8 different venues to be featured on. In addition to the top 9, you now have 7 other headings that feature the top posts of the week. There is no more voting and it’s no longer a popularity contest to see who gets the highest score. The folks at Foodbuzz are picking out what they think the public will want to see……ok, now hold back the boos and the hissing….I know you think this is unfair, that’s not how we use to do it, but this way is better……trust me. The reason it’s better is because these people do know their jobs and their jobs are not picking the most popular posts for bloggers, but they want the posts and images that are going to keep so many non bloggers coming back every day.
You do know that the top 9 had a ton of traffic daily, and not just from bloggers. The top 9 in its own right is a foodporn site, and needs to be treated like one, but now in addition to the top 9, Foodbuzz has given us more opportunities to shine. These extra pages will also get more traffic headed our way, from regular people looking for a little break in their day, and hoping to find a few new recipes to try in their homes. Foodbuzz just made it easier for us to get new readers, and my friends these are the ones we want.
The word is that there will also be new programs coming out of these pages that will allow us to make a little extra money along with more recognition, and that’s always a good thing! Remember Rome wasn’t built in a day, this is quite an undertaking and still a work in progress, so hang in there it’s going to get a lot better.
One more word of advice, for those of you posting topics other than food. You also have other daily buzz programs you can be part of, Healthy Living, and Moms are probably the two that would work the best, but there is also Lux, Tech, and style, so you may want to broaden your horizons a bit and carve out another area to gain readership from. I’m still trying to figure out if I can qualify for moms, since most of my readers are moms.
I’ve already had friends tell me they’ve picked up a fair amount of traffic from another daily buzz site. In case you haven’t noticed the Top 9 is now themed,
Here’s what Foodbuzz has to say about the top 9 on the Daily Buzz:
“A great new feature of DailyBuzz Food is our ability to share our editorial calendar with you and ask you to submit posts on specific topics. We’ll pick the best of those submissions and feature them in specific Top 9 collections throughout the month.
Beyond this, most of our Top 9s and content channels will be inspired by seasonal foods and current food blogging trends. Keep doing what you do, and continue to inspire our work!”
Here’s what Foodbuzz has to say about the top 9 on the Daily Buzz:
“Unlike the Foodbuzz Top 9, which was based on buzz score, the DailyBuzz Food Top 9 is editorially-curated around a daily theme. The #1 way to get featured is to continue to create great original content with beautiful photos.
The Top 9 is also not only based on the previous day’s posts, so your content could be featured at any time if if fits the theme of the day.”
Here’s what Foodbuzz has to say about the topics that are featured on the Daily Buzz:
“On DailyBuzz Food, content is categorized into six different channels: Quick, Healthy, Sweet, Savory, Festive, Global, andSpecial Diet. Here’s a rundown of each channel and what you’ll find there:
Quick: The best quick, easy-to-make recipes.
Healthy: The best light, healthy, and delicious recipes and ingredients.
Sweet: The best sweet treats such as cookies, cakes, pies, brownies and more.
Savory: The best savory fare such as main dishes, appetizers, soups, breads and more.
Festive: The best festive and special-occasion recipes, including party and holiday fare.
Global: The best international cuisine, including Italian, French, Mexican, Asian and more.
Special Diet: The best recipes for special diets, including gluten-free, vegan and more.
Some posts are automatically classified into these channels based on the title and content of the post itself; others are manually added by our editorial team. New posts are constantly added to the channels, so there’s always fresh content for you to enjoy.”
I think that gives you a pretty good idea of where we’re headed with foodbuzz, and I think these are good positive changes, but I do think we need to give them suggestions on how we can keep our community together. So put your thinking caps on, and send them your best idea’s on how to set up some sort of community area, where we can still interact. Send your suggestions to the team at editorial@foodbuzz.com or food@dailybuzz.com just don’t forget to tell them Chef Dennis sent you!
FoodBuzz Festival
I’ve also had many question regarding the Foodbuzz Festival in San Francisco this year. Yes it’s still happening and it looks like there is a good chance I will be attending. This years festival is shaping up to be an outstanding event (hopefully no ones leaving them in the lurch this year, It seems last year some senior staff left prior to the festival to start a new venture. I sure they were hoping they would fail………not to professional was it.). This years 4th Annual Foodbuzz Festival will be on October 19th and 20th. Click Here to get your tickets. The cost to Featured Publishers is only $30.00. You’ll find more information about the event on that page.
So what’s the Buzz with Foodbuzz? I think everything is going to be ok, so just hang in there Foodbuzz is still the biggest and best online community on the web!
If you’re looking for somewhere to connect with all of your Foodbuzz friends head on over to Google+ and follow my unofficial page and I’ll start our own circle of Foodbuzz bloggers and we can keep up on each others posts that way!
Maybe it’s just a habit that is difficult to break. I miss that opportunity to meet new friends and see what other bloggers are cooking in one place. That was something different.
Well Medeja that’s what you need to tell Foodbuzz, they want to know how everyone feels.
Great post!!!! Thank you for reaching out and writing about foodbuzz! As a very new food blogger I was trying to figure out how to transition to this new format. Not only did you explain (in detail) why it foodbuzz needed to change but how ultimately it will benefit us all. Hope to meet you in SanFran or another time soon!
Thanks Stephanie, I really think the change is a good thing and as long as we let them know what we expect from them, I think Foodbuzz will continue to give us the community that we have come to love.
I actually like the new look and the system, especially the way a post which Is a week or older can be picked up and still hit the top 9. I do think a forum is the way to go as we all have a voice and yup we like to talk, LOL, not too mention the friendships which have been made through Foodbuzz.
Just my $0.02
Thanks Gerry, I think the changes were necessary and I think if enough people tell them what they want, they will listen. I would love to see forums and I would be happy to moderate one of them.
Dennis, Thank you so very much for this post and the information it contains. As I was preparing my return to blogging, I was aware of the impending changes to Foodbuzz once August rolled around. In my mind I must have composed several emails to you, with questions for every point you covered herein, yet I inherently knew our community had the same questions and many of them were destined for your personal inbox. The transition of the former Foodbuzz platform undeniably feels a tad discombobulating to our community. But this I know for sure: Our connectivity with each other is bound by our collective spiritual desire to do what we do best―food. And as ingredients to a dish are adaptable, so are we.
I think many of feel exactly the way you do Brooks, and as long as we do what we do best, our community will thrive, and Foodbuzz is the perfect venue for that to happen. It will take some time to get use to the new look and feel of the Daily buzz, but I believe we will see a lot more opportunities to shine because of it.
Such a well written post, Chef! Thanks so much for taking the time to set up the live meeting and share your findings here with us, I appreciate it!
Thank you for this Chef Dennis! I was on vacation when the changes were happening & was so confused by everything. I think I’m going to like the changes! Thank you so much for taking the initiative to find the answers to some of the questions we all have & for sharing them with the blogging community
This was very helpful. I was curious about the change and you answered many of my questions. Thanks, Chef Dennis!
Oh, Dennis! Thank you, thank you, thank you!! You always make things easier for us, and you have done it again. Thank you for talking to Foodbuzz and for explaining the changes. It really does make sense, and I will also admit that I don’t miss that inbox at all. I’m embarrassed to tell anyone how many unanswered posts I had in there. I probably single handedly overloaded their serves by holding those messages in my box!
I’ve been a Foodbuzz fan since I started my blog… you were the 2nd person to add me as a friend. I’m very happy for the Community that Foodbuzz provided, it set me on my way and I feel as though I have friends all over the world thanks to that community.
I’m eager to see what path the new DailyBuzz takes and will wait patiently. In time we will all figure it out.
I’m going to try to work out the Foodbuzz Fest!! Right now it looks like I can make it!
Thanks Kim, I’m glad I got to talk to Beth and could answer some of the questions I know we all had. I hope to see you in San Fran this year!
I do have another question… obviously the editors are choosing the photos to use now, so we do need to still post a horizontal photo in our posts. Does it matter where in the post that is? Meaning, does it need to be the first photo in the post to be seen? I can email DailyBuzz as well…
Kim that’s a good question, and I don’t know how they are receiving our posts. I would think Horizontal or square would still be the way to go. Drop them a line tomorrow and ask to be certain. I’m sure they’ll be glad to hear from you!
Thx for the info, Dennis … Enjoyed the content.
Chef, thank you once again for being such a pillar of the community. This helps to clarify a lot. I have been in touch with Foodbuzz myself over these changes and they have been very prompt and helpful with me as well and I am very pleased that they offer alternatives to javascript ads.
I think you are right about the time management which is what made me hesitate to log in. Even if I buzzed, read and commented on bloggers that made an effort to be a part of a community it was quite impossible to stay even close to caught up. With my schedule I am sad that I am not able to leave comments as it is.
Your post really helped calm and pacify the reaction of the majority of the Foodbuzz community and I hope that they do share your post with anyone that reacts negatively as you remind us that they are a corporation and they are going to change from time to time. As other events in life we must adapt.
You are appreciated.
Thanks Dionne, I think that them important thing right now is to try and figure out a way to keep our community intact. I know Federated wants Foodbuzz to succeed, and if they don’t do something we’ll be just like the rest of those lifeless organizations out there.
hope all is well in your wold my friend!
Thanks for taking the time and effort to find out what was going on with foodbuzz. I have to admit that other than having to find a different way to keep in touch with my WordPress bloggers, I haven’t noticed any dip in my numbers. A lot of that is because I wasn’t a featured publisher. So, all is good for me.
I just started a group on G+ for Foodbuzz bloggers, we can keep increasing the circle and share, then we will have our own foodbuzz stream to follow! Hope all is well my friend!
Foodbuzz was a bit messy. Reading what you said about why it collapsed it´s completely understandable. Being a new blogger what I can add from my end, is that though it was obvious to old bloggers how it worked, many new ones had no clue. I didn´t know why pics were not showing, or why we shouldn´t re-post, etc.
Social media has to be fully understood before it can be efficiently practised. There are too many options and sites and groups. And there are always new bloggers entering this world. Ways of using the web will change continually through the years, just like everything else.
It´s great that sites adapt and try to find the best possible way to be part of the community. I´m just concerned that things have to be understood before hand. Like having to be in shape before joining the gym.
Right now, I can imagine how dailybuzz works, and this post cleared a lot of things up, but maybe they should be interested in explaining how things work and what they aim for with a page in their site.
I see daily tweets (I asked once myself) asking dailybuzz stuff about how it works and they answer in a generic way, with no real info. Many will loose interest.
Your posts are always very helpful Dennis, thanks for taking the time to write them.
You’re welcome Paula. You know its funny they have a FAQ section but never really talk about it. I went to it for the quotes I used from Foodbuzz. I know they send us out information on a regular basis, but I get hundreds of emails a day and I’ll be the first to admit I don’t always read everything. That’s why I’m hoping they open up a forum section where we can discuss thing. sometimes when they may seem apparent, they are not, and it would be a good way to get clarification, before too much time passed and it caused frustration.
Thanks for your support!
Great post! Thanks for the time and effort to clarify the changes.
you’re very welcome Terri!
Great post, Dennis. Thanks! I’d love to be able to search dailybuzz. I guess I should email them with my 2 cents worth. I like the forum idea, too.
Headed over to Google+ to join your foodbuzz circle!
Thanks for sharing this and continuing to be such a leader to the food blogging community, Chef! I’m still a little confused on the new format of Dailybuzz so would definitely love it if some sort of live community forum was set up. In the meantime, I’ll continue exploring!
Thanks for sharing this info and going to the source. I had a love-hate relationship with the old foodbuzz. I would get frustrated when it seemed like the same group was always getting in the Top 9 but then the few times I got in – I loved it.
I have noticed the major change and although I have been away for much of the summer, once I got back, I was preparing to understand what all these changes meant.
Your post has helped with that!! Thanks.
Great post Dennis. Unfortunately, no one like change. Including myself. Things always have to change to get better and keep up with the future.
The only thing that bothers me is they are currently hand picking the 9 posts out of how many? 10,000 or so??
How does anyone see your post on Dailybuzz if they are not chosen for the Top 9 or on one of the other categories for the best of the week? At least before some of your friends were seeing it.
As someone else posted, it seems that only the posts with the great photos would get posted, even though someone could have a great recipe or idea. If their picture was less than desirable, it wouldn’t be posted.
Hopefully they will bring back a way of people posting to other bloggers that want to see those posts, and deal with the spam situation as well.
Honestly, right now it’s a pretty uninteresting site for me anyway.
hi Sandie
I guess it just the natural evolution of food blogging, that images have become such an important part of our posts. I do think there will be a lot more opportunities though, with so many new boards to be featured on. The top 9 has actually become a very popular foodporn site unto its own, and you really were getting more outside hits than hits from members because of it, so this new format will actually attract more viewers.
I don’t think they will bring back the old way, Federated has directed this move to be aligned with their other groups, so it’s a done deal, the best we can hope for is to have they come up with another way for us to communicate.
Thanks for stopping by!
Dennis
Thanks so much for this lovely post. I took a break from blogging so I had no clue of all the changes. In any event I am probally one of the few people who did not like the old format. It was too difficult to figure out and I am sure I was one of those posters you mentioned who ended up with multiple posts. The inbox overload was also another issue. Uploading posts was an exercise in frustration. The changes you mentioned sound exciting and I will definately hop on over to check out the new format.
Hi Chef D ! Love the new Foodbuzz
Haven’t been to the site for quiet sometime though 
Thank you Dennis for shedding light on the old Foodbuzz challenges. I’ve been in touch with DailyBuzz Food several times and each time I received a prompt response. Change is scary but I think it will workout to everyone’s benefit. I do miss being in touch with my foodie friends via the inbox, but sometimes it was overwhelming trying to keep up. You touched on so many good points here that I’m sure I’ll re-read this post several times. Thanks again!
Thanks Sandra, I hope they do come up with a way to keep more of the community intact, that was truly the heart of Foodbuzz!
Such an interesting post. Thanks for sharing this information. I was pretty new to FoodBuzz when it vanished. I am excited at the new opportunities Daily Buzz holds. I also think it’s a great point that it has given an opportunity to focus elsewhere. I’m trying to get my little blog to grow and it’s almost a full-time job.
It keeps getting to be more and more work as time goes on…sigh I do think that the new daily buzz offers a lot more opportunities.
Thanks Chef Dennis, much appreciated…
I seriously doubt you’d remember, but I met you at last year’s Foodbuzz. I was sitting outside, on the deck, getting some fresh air (at the Metreon). Anyway, I have to tell you that I admire your cooking skills and I enjoy your guest posts. It’s when you explain things like Google + (which I joined after reading your explanation), about copyrights and now Foodbuzz– that I really enjoy the way you express your views. To be honest, I got frustrated trying to figure out Foodbuzz. I never, EVER made it to the Top 9 and I got tired of my In Box being filled with spam email. So, yes, that was really frustrating. Now that the new format is in place– what do you know? I made it to the Top 9!!! Whoo-hoo. I’m not into blogging to make a living. I’m in it, because it’s my creative outlet. I have grown leaps and bounds with my photography, and have personally challenged myself to try making new things. The community I’ve met has been an unexpected bonus. I’ll be at Foodbuzz, and I thank my lucky stars that I booked my timeshare for a fraction of the cost of what rooms will be elsewhere. Ouch! I look forward to coming, and meeting new people, learning new things– and maybe I’ll see you there again. “Debby”
hi Debbie
Yes I do remember meeting you outside at the Metreon. I have to admit the whole festival is almost a blur for me though, I fly almost 6 hours to get there to spend less than 48 hours and then the time difference pretty much finishes me off…lol…..but I do love coming out to meet everyone, it’s one of the highlights of my year. It looks like I will be out, but I am having a hard time finding a room at a semi reasonable rate. we’ll have to wait and see what happens.
Cheers
Dennis
Thanks for the insight, Chef Dennis. I’m a little disappointed that Foodbuzz made the changes so quickly and without seeking community input, because at the end of the day, it’s our hard work and great content that made Foodbuzz such a success in the first place.
Since the change, I’ve gone from getting a few hundred views on each post through FB to getting zero. Sadly, I’m not even exaggerating. ZERO.
I’m in total agreement that the old inbox system had its flaws, but I liked having control over my own submissions. Taking away that ability essentially gives Foodbuzz full control – we can’t manually add tags or descriptions, we can’t pick which photo will be featured, and we have no way of even seeing that our content is being loaded in the first place. Call me a control freak, but giving anyone a free license to use my content as they like without my input makes me a little itchy.
I know change is necessary, and I hope Foodbuzz makes it successfully through the transition…. but unfortunately, they’re going to have to do it without me. It was great while it lasted, but I’m making my opinion heard in the only way I know how – by taking my business elsewhere.
I do understand completely Isabelle, if you do find a community that works the way Foodbuzz did, please let us all know, there will be a mass exodus! I just haven’t found anything worth moving too, and I never really got that many hits from Foodbuzz, so I haven’t seen much of change. I don’t think any ad group is ever going to send you traffic of any substance, and it comes down to being happy, that of course is the most important thing.
About the time foodbuzz started making changes I was super pregnant and then I had a new born and now two months or so later I’m coming back into the blogging world. I love that Fooderbuzz has evolved into the DailyBuzz, but now I’m not so sure how to contribute. Where do I find this editorial calendar? Do I need to submit posts or will they just pick them up because I am a member?
You did need to sign up for the new Federated Media plan, and then you don’t have to do anything else. As long as your RSS feed is set up they will get your posts. They will be emailing out the editorial calendar to Featured Publishers, but if you didn’t change over your information they may not have you on the new mailing list. If your unsure if you are already signed up just send an email to one of the addresses I’ve listed and someone will be able to check for you. They have been super responsive!
FoodBuzz grew into a very clumsy and bloated website. I stopped going there a while a go. If it is a work-in–progress, it needs a lot of work. In the meantime, I will stick to tastespotting and foodblogs.com. Nice and simple food blogger websites that give me just what I am looking for — cool food blogs, pictures and recipes.
thanks so much for doing the research and the translation, chef! i always admire the way you pull others up with you in the food blogging game
Hi Dennis, Thanks for the post. I think the thing I am still confused about is where to find what the themes are that they are looking for. Perhaps you know? I am unsure of what they are looking for and when. Maybe I am looking in the wrong spot?
hi Raven they have started emailing out the themes for their editorial calendar, once a month. They feature one theme a week. Check your next email from them
Thanks Dennis! This is very helpful. I’ve been struggling with the change. I guess my question is, if DailyBuzz wants us to treat it like a food porn site – why doesn’t it functon that way – there is no interaction – we can’t log on – track if our photos have been used, ect… I am still not convinced my content has transfered over and my emails have not been responded to. I think I speak for most food bloggers when I say we’re happy to adapt and move with what is best for our business, but I need transparency and information. Until reading this post, I had received very little from them. Thanks for your efforts!!!
Thank you, Chef Dennis, for your thoughts and answers to many of our questions. It has given us a lot to consider.
Thank you so very much for the detailed information. I have been tinkering around Foodbuzz for a couple of months, but honestly, I couldn’t really figure out much. And this is when I am in no way a novice to the social media, having headed the Moderation team for a forum of big media company for more than 5 years. Obviously it’s much loved and appreciated by those who are used to it, but I feel these changes will help the newcomers like us, who are still picking up the tools of the trade every single day. I am bookmarking this, so I can come back to understand Foodbuzz more.
Thank you for this information. I stepped away from blogging for a while and had only recently returned.. to find my login information to Foodbuzz missing. I remember when you joined Foodbuzz – we joined around the same time and you were one of my first followers
After being away for so long, I was shocked when I tried to visit today and saw the new format.
My main concern is that under the old system I was used to, my new blog posts got automatically posted to Foodbuzz. I wanted to stop that process and only upload posts that were relevant, but I had no way to login to check and change any settings. I don’t really want them to continue uploading my posts without my knowledge. I had no clue how to check on the status of my old account or even search for my posts.
At least now I have some idea of what has changed, but I still don’t know how to update my account.
hi Heather
you will need to contact Beth at Foodbuzz to update your information if you want to stay with the Dailybuzz Food. It’s really easy they just need some bank info for direct pay, and also there are new ads and links to be placed. You won’t have to worry about uploading only relevent posts, while all of the posts from your RSS feed will be sent to FB, they won’t be public, only the ones they choose will be on the top 9 or the other boards. You may also want to consider some of the other daily buzz sites if you feel as though your content would fit into any of those categories. Also under the old system you could have at anytime changed your feed, I never let them auto upload any of my posts because you couldn’t make the top 9 without uploading an image, I always uploaded every post on my own.
If you have any questions feel free to email me, If I know the answer I will be more than happy to help
Dennis
Thank you for your time in meeting with the Daily Buzz people. I see this will help many of your fellow food bloggers.
From a user standpoint – I don’t have a food blog – one very important feature is missing. I usually look at my foodie sites about once a week, sometimes maybe even only twice a month. The new Daily Buzz will always go to the most current page and not let me check out what I had missed. So, it makes no sense to me to keep the past Daily Buzz emails, and they are just deleted from my inbox.
I feel like I am missing so many great postings, especially since I have subscribed to so many sites as a result of being found on FoodBuzz. However, I am seeing that many Daily Buzz postings are also on FoodGawker, which I frequent also. So, I will probably be unsubscribing to Daily Buzz, unless there is a feature to go back and see previous postings that I am missing.
As I subscribe to so many sites, I am only sorry that I will be missing out on new talents.
Thank you again for your time and for sharing your findings.
hi JC
you can go back to previous top 9′s on the dailybuzz food, there are arrows about midway down the page that let you see the past selections. And in the other categories they just keep adding new everyday, but you can still scroll down to see what you may have missed, like you could in the old categories. That’s really a great way to see the best of foodbuzz, you never know what might show up there. You’re seeing more of the foodbuzz images on Foodgawker because Federated Media now owns Foodgawker. I almost never send my images to Foodgawker anymore, the traffic from there site is minimal, not like it was 2 years ago, and they turn down most of my images anyway for such a wide variety of reasons.
I think Foodbuzz will continue to grow with the changes that they have implemented.
Let me know if you still have problems finding the content you missed.
Dennis
They must have added these arrows since I had last been to Daily Buzz. I am a happy person once again. Thank you!
JC, foodgawker is nice. Thanks for sharing this. I usually visit tastespotting.com and foodblogs.com. Both have introduced me to several new food blogs. FoodPorn.net is another one I recently discovered.
Thank you, Chef Dennis. I feel so much better now. I adapt to change quite readily, but I was afraid I would be missing out on so many new and great creations. I will play around with the DB food site this evening. Thank you!!
Dylan, thank you for sharing wiht me these other sites. I have never been to foodblogs.com or foodporn.net. I have visited tastespotting.com. I will check them out. Thank you.
Hey Chef,
Great explanation to the whole transition, I am glad someone took the time to get it all out there. The second I saw that Foodbuzz was being sold to Federated Media I know it would see some big changes along the way, so I was not surprised at all when it changed over on Aug 1st.
Honestly, the past few years my hits from Foodbuzz have been about 5% or less of my total site stats, not that those hits didn’t count, but I never generated much “buzz” from my Foodbuzz friends or contacts in the Foodbuzz community. While I did get a lot of comments, most were from other food bloggers, so alas, we have come full circle and must rely on our own merits to build our food blog empire! Today, if I get one comment on a post I am lucky! I have little time to devote to building my online presence, but still post about my culinary adventures. The real reason I set out in the first place to document my 37+ years of cooking experience.
Bon appetite!
CCR
Thanks Chef Ryan, I’m glad you found my post informative. I’m with you on the time factor, it’s all I can do just to post most of the time, and while I do love all of my friends that I mae because of Foodbuzz, I just don’t have the time to get around to comment. But like you said the amount of hits we get from foodbuzz has dropped and probably for the better. It has made us rely more on ourselves and our writing to drive traffic to our sites.
Cheers
Dennis
Thank you Dennis for all the information
It is true it was getting quite hard to keep up with the inbox. I like your unofficial food buzz page.
Thanks again,
Akheela
Thanks so much for the explanation of changes. After being gone most of the summer, I returned to find Foodbuzz gone and heartbroken that the recipes I had saved for the last few years have all disappeared! I am not a blogger nor do I have a website, but I had followed Foodbuzz bloggers religiously and enjoyed experimenting so many recipes. Is there any way to recover them? I had emailed Foodbuzz directly with this question (about a month ago) but have not received any response. I feel so lost without my recipes! Hope you can help! -Bee
I’m afraid those are gone now Bee. I know a lot of people lost saved recipes. I actually think you’ll see more of the good stuff without all the searching with Foodbuzz now, and I am still hoping they come up with something to resurrect our community. I’ve been trying to get everyone over to Google+, I even have an unofficial foodbuzz page there. It really is the next best thing, its so easy to share your posts with your friends, but many have been slow to come over. I do have a pretty good group there but were stilling missing so many.
Have you tried G+ yet? If you sign up let me know and I’ll share some of my food blogger circles with you.
Hi Dennis,
I am one of the original foodbuzz bloggers from 5 years ago, so when they disappeared and Ryan’s phone and email disconnected, I was concerned.
Thank you for clearing this up for some of us! Debby from Foodiewife sent this to me, and it has answered a lot of questions. I am hoping Federated Media brings me more readers and exposure, and I agree, sometimes I think I write for the other bloggers who leave me comments! ha!
Thank you,
Stacey Snacks
hi Stacey
I’m still in a wait and see mode, I think that with all of the food porn sites and blogger sites that none of them will ever provide the traffic that we were use to getting from Foodbuzz a few years ago. Even hits from Foodgawker and tastespotting are just a fraction of they use to be.
The answer to me seems to be that we’re really on our own anymore, and that we need to gain more exposure for ourselves to generate the traffic that we all hope for. I’m a big advocate of Google+, we are actually building a community akin to what Foodbuzz use to be, but more importantly the more you use G+ the more you’ll be noticed on the google search engine. The major source of my hits by a huge margin is now from Google and that’s were my growth has been coming.
so if you’re not already on G+ check it out, I also did a tutorial with some good how to’s on setting up, a lot of people make mistakes when they sign on, and that slows up the process.
if you have any questions don’t hesitate to email me.
Cheers
Dennis
Thanks for clearing that up! I still miss the old Foodbuzz, minus the crazy inbox haha if only they could still keep the facebook-like social media platform for foodbloggers!
Dennis, thanks so much for clarifying what’s going on with foodbuzz/Dailybuzz. As a newer blogger, I found it almost impossible to break into the click that was FoodBuzz and eventually gave up to pursue other avenues. Sometimes change is good. I do think the community needs to be brought back. Many bloggers were just frustrated with how the change came about and no good info on what the new Daily Buzz could do for them. Sadly, I know poor Beth was just bombarded with nothing but complaints when the change first happened and she valiantly tried to answer every question posed to her, even if the answer was “I don’t know but I’ll look into it.”
What’s the link to your Google+ Community for Food Bloggers, would love to be a part of it!
So how does a blogger know what ‘theme’ will be featured in the top 9 and how do you submit a post to it?
once your registered with the new daily buzz, you’ll get emails telling you what they will be featuring for the month.
Chef D – I cannot thank you enough for writing this post! I’m a former food blogger that took a 2 year break and just launched a new blog today (yay!), and suddenly I find that all my old “go to’s” for networking and promoting my posts have changed, most importantly FoodBuzz. I could not get any good info until your post.
Thank you, thank you!
G’day Chef D,
As a newcomer to the food blogging scene I am looking for ways to spread the culinary word. I had come across Foodbuzz, and then Dailybuzz, both of which I had no understanding of how they worked, their relationship and whether they would be appropriate for the audience I want to attract. I want to lavish praise on this blog post – for providing me with an understanding of the history, the community and the future of the ‘Buzz’, as well as the time you’ve taken to research. I’ll be back on here again – thank you.
Hi Chef Dennis, thanks for shedding some light on the changing situation at FoodBuzz.
To be perfectly honest, I joined as a member last year, and felt it was amont the least user-friendly community sites I’d laid eyes on — which was unfortunate, as I felt it had great potential, but the inboxes and sharing systems just felt so dated.
I recently noticed the branding switch and wondered if this perhaps prompted a wide-scale streamlining of the platform. Looks like they are still working out a few kinks but it does sound better, the way you’ve described it!
hi Yasmeen
actually things have gotten worse, they pretty much just told me stories to keep me on board. I have been advising everyone to move to Google+ where we are building a strong community of food bloggers and where its very easy to keep track of your friends and make so many more!
I have some you tube video’s and blog posts on how to use G+ if you’re interested, there are about 600 of us there already.
Dennis
Yes, Chef Dennis, things have gotten worse. After four years, I received an email that my contract with them was being cancelled at the end of November. The Foodbuzz Festival was nice, but a skeleton of what it once was. The tastemaker program is pretty much kaput. I’m moving on, obviously. I’m curious, did they cancel your contract, too? Are you moving on? Any ideas?
I received an email also about the cancelling of my contract. My guess is that it went out to all Featured Publishers. You are so right about the Tastemakers Program, it’s not what it used to be. Thankfully we can get together at Google+ and hang out.
you notice that they waited until after the festival to start canceling contracts, that’s more than likely why they moved it up a month. They started sending out cancellation notices the week after the festival…they really are despicable.
I’m not sure where I’m going yet, they have not released me, but my contract is up in February so I will be somewhere else by then. I just don’t know where yet
I see! I guess I’m was a tiny little fish in their pond– as in, didn’t generate enough income for them. Ah well, it was a good four year run. Please let us know what you suggest. I’m going to try Foodie Blogroll. Now sure it I want to go with Legit and I hear Google AdSense isn’t going to be in effect after the end of the month, too. Blogher has a waiting list. I can’t quite my day job, blogging. But, I have to admit that I appreciate the triple-digit checks each month. That was ear-marked for gadgets that wanted, like my new camera. I got kinda spoiled!
I just tried getting into my inbox after a long absence from Foodbuzz, and I can’t access my account. It logs me in, then everything just takes me back to the new home screen. All that time wasted reading and saving recipes. if it wasn’t for the good friends I made from this site, I may otherwise be a little bit more peeved. Hope you are doing well chef
come join us on Google+ if you’re not already there. We have our own food bloggers community and its the perfect place to stay connected. I have tutorials and you tube videos to help you get started.
let me know if I can help
Thank you so much for this post I don’t know how I didn’t see it earlier! I’ve had some time away from the internet to give birth to my lovely baby girl and when I came back I didn’t know what happened to FoodBuzz and I wished someone could give me some info about it! I was really upset because I had so many friends that I didn’t have any connection with them other than foodbuzz and I really hope I can find them somewhere on the internet! Thanks again and happy cooking
BTW for anyone who knows me from foodbuzz here is my connections so we can get in touch again!
http://pinterest.com/f00dl0ver/
http://www.facebook.com/Food.Lover.Recipes
http://twitter.com/Food_Lover_Blog
Thanks a million Chef Dennis for this post I really appreciate it
Oh and of course Google+
https://plus.google.com/u/0/106135889627409686671
I just read it in your last reply that you have a community there let me know the link once you read this!
I just added you into my community on G+ , look for the invite, I also followed you back. I look forward to seeing you in my community! G+ Food Bloggers Community