BuzzFeed is a modern publisher, but that doesn’t mean it’s without an appreciation for the past.
With its newest section, Rewind, BuzzFeed takes users back to the decade of their choice by serving up archived content of classic images. Posts include subjects like an infographic giving the history of the Legend of Zelda; unappreciated fashion trends throughout history; and photos of 1980s Olympians rocking feathered bangs and other unfortunate hairstyles of those times.
“The images are in public domain and often interesting archives that live obscurely on the Internet,” Buzzfeed’s managing editor Scott Lamb said. “The originality will come in what things we’re plucking out and in that sense, what archives and access to old material we can get that doesn’t exist already online.”
For the launch, a BuzzFeed app will turn back your Facebook pages to the halcyon days of Geocities and MySpace.
The new area is more Old BuzzFeed (animals, memes) than New BuzzFeed (politics, original reporting). The BuzzFeed bet is that these very different types of content can have a single home.
“We’re trying to balance with things inherently BuzzFeedy, relying on core strengths of the site,” Lamb said. “So many of our biggest posts, what people love to share, recall memories or have something to do with a TV show from the ’90s. It makes sense to have an original vertical around that notion.”
GE is a launch sponsor, but there’s plenty of opportunity for brands. Since the company’s ad model is sponsored content and content marketing, brands, especially those with long histories, can bring readers back to a different era. Think Coca-Cola ads from the 1940s or a Sears & Roebuck catalog from the 1890s.
“It’s smart for brands to capitalize on their back catalog in an interesting form of content that connects people to the brand,” Lamb said.
More in Media
‘The net is tightening’ on AI scraping: Annotated Q&A with Financial Times’ head of global public policy and platform strategy
Matt Rogerson, FT’s director of global public policy and platform strategy, believes 2026 will bring a kind of reset as big tech companies alter their stance on AI licensing to avoid future legal risk.
Future starts to sharpen its AI search visibility playbook
Future is boosting AI search citations and mentions with a tool called Future Optic, and offering the product to branded content clients.
Digiday’s extensive guide to what’s in and out for creators in 2026
With AI-generated content flooding social media platforms, embracing the messiness and imperfection of being human will help creators stand out in the spreading sea of slapdash slop.