{"id":2128,"date":"2016-12-09T00:41:55","date_gmt":"2016-12-09T00:41:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.rsoftsolution.com\/blog\/buzzfeed-hires-gilad-lotan-as-vp-of-data-science.html"},"modified":"2016-12-09T00:41:55","modified_gmt":"2016-12-09T00:41:55","slug":"buzzfeed-hires-gilad-lotan-as-vp-of-data-science","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rbsitsoftwaresolution.in\/blog\/buzzfeed-hires-gilad-lotan-as-vp-of-data-science.html","title":{"rendered":"BuzzFeed hires Gilad Lotan as VP of data science"},"content":{"rendered":"


\n<\/p>\n

BuzzFeed has a new vice president leading its data science team.<\/p>\n

Gilad Lotan has a long r\u00e9sum\u00e9<\/a> in the field, having most recently served as chief data scientist at New York-based startup studio Betaworks, and before that working in data-related roles at SocialFlow, Microsoft and Endemol.<\/p>\n

Publisher Dao Nguyen told me that this is a new role at BuzzFeed \u2014 the closest equivalent being Nguyen\u2019s old title of vice president of growth and data, which she held until her promotion two years ago<\/a>. Among other things, she said she expects Lotan to significantly expand\u00a0BuzzFeed\u2019s 11-person data science team next year.<\/p>\n

Nguyen suggested that there are a number of BuzzFeed initiatives where data will play an important role, including international growth\u00a0and commerce<\/a>. And beyond that, there\u2019s the growing importance of channels like Facebook, Snapchat and YouTube in allowing publishers like BuzzFeed to reach their audience.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe proliferation of platforms and media on those platforms has actually made data science a much more difficult \u2014 but also more interesting \u2014 job,\u201d Nguyen said. \u201cBecause you have a lot of data coming from a lot of third-party platforms and they all measure things differently\u201d \u2014 creating an opportunity to think up \u201cdifferent ways of collecting and analyzing data.\u201d<\/p>\n

For example, BuzzFeed is currently working on \u201ctotally rethinking how we classify content,\u201d in a way that\u2019s less focused on things like format, topic and length, and more on \u201cWhat\u2019s the motivator of this content? How does it make people feel?\u201d That kind of classification, Nguyen\u00a0said, also resonates with advertisers: \u201cIt\u2019s the kind of mindset that can be applied to a lot of different parts of the core business.\u201d<\/p>\n

As for why Lotan is the right person for the job, Nguyen described him as \u201ca talented data scientist,\u201d but also pointed to his interest in \u201cthe intersection of media and social.\u201d (Check out his recently-published post<\/a> on fake news and the broader media landscape.)<\/p>\n

She said Lotan\u2019s other key attribute was \u201ca real appreciation for, understanding of and empathy towards people as opposed to just numbers.\u201d That\u2019s important for working with the BuzzFeed team, but also for trying to understand \u201cwhy people are sharing.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Article source: http:\/\/feedproxy.google.com\/~r\/techcrunch\/social\/~3\/w4r4eypjwTo\/<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

BuzzFeed has a new vice president leading its data science team. Gilad Lotan has a long r\u00e9sum\u00e9 in the field, having most recently served as chief data scientist at New <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3],"tags":[10,7,14,15,6,12,11],"class_list":["post-2128","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-latest-update","tag-computer-news","tag-downloads","tag-microsoft-download-news","tag-networking-updates","tag-technology-update","tag-wordpress-plugin-download","tag-wordpress-theme-download"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t