Before Instagram Stories, before TikTok dances, before anyone said "influencer," there was Buzznet. This forgotten platform accidentally invented the blueprint for modern social media—and then got destroyed by its own success.

Join host Leslie Simon and explore how Buzznet's innovations in authentic community building, creator monetization, and visual storytelling became the template that every platform since has followed. From Discord's community features to Instagram's aesthetic curation, the patterns that emerged from this small music platform are still shaping your digital experience today.

Decode the foundational patterns that every platform still follows, why they keep making the same mistakes, and what happens when innovation becomes invisible.

Want the complete Buzznet origin story? Check out our two-part series on The Rise & The Fall of Buzznet.

What happened to the original influencers after Buzznet died? This bonus clip tracks the wild post-platform journeys of scene queens like Jeffree Star, Audrey Kitching, and Hanna Beth—from beauty empires to spiritual scandals to perfect pivots.

Join host Leslie Simon and explore how Jeffree built a $45 million cosmetics empire before retreating to a Wyoming yak ranch, uncover the mystery behind Audrey's disappearance and her controversial Crystal Cactus venture, and reveal how Hanna Beth mastered reinvention through reality TV and brand partnerships.

Together, the scene queens reveal the secret for surviving internet fame: treat early success as a beginning, not a peak.

Want the complete Buzznet origin story? Check out our two-part series on The Rise & The Fall of Buzznet.

Want more #DesperateForAttentionPod? 🎧 Listen & Subscribe on Apple: https://bit.ly/dfapodcast-apple Listen & Subscribe on Spotify: https://bit.ly/dfapodcast-spotify Listen & Subscribe on Amazon Music: https://bit.ly/dfapodcast-amazonmusic 💬 Follow on Instagram: @desperateforattentionpod Follow on Threads: @desperateforattentionpod Follow on Bsky: https://bsky.app/profile/desperateforattn.bsky.social 🎵 Theme music: "Raving Energy (faster)" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

By 2008, Buzznet’s tight-knit community of scene royalty was tearing itself apart through public feuds and competitive drama, while Facebook's clean interface and mysterious algorithm systematically dismantled their kingdom.

From Jeffree Star's mainstream pivot to the Great Scene Queen Wars, from Facebook's game-changing News Feed to Buzznet's fatal celebrity gossip rebrand—this is the story of how authentic community gets destroyed by its own success.

In Part 2 of our Buzznet series, we dive into how the platform that accidentally invented influencer culture became its first casualty.

Want more #DesperateForAttentionPod? 🎧 Listen & Subscribe on Apple: https://bit.ly/dfapodcast-apple Listen & Subscribe on Spotify: https://bit.ly/dfapodcast-spotify Listen & Subscribe on Amazon Music: https://bit.ly/dfapodcast-amazonmusic 💬 Follow on Instagram: @desperateforattentionpod Follow on Threads: @desperateforattentionpod Follow on Bsky: https://bsky.app/profile/desperateforattn.bsky.social 🎵 Theme music: "Raving Energy (faster)" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 Licensehttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/