This dissertation interrogates how platforms are reengineering media production through case studies of the viral media publishers BuzzFeed and Upworthy. Through 66 semi-structured interviews with data scientists, software engineers, and content creators at these two companies, I examine the social media optimization practices that they devised and deployed to garner traffic on Facebook. Over the course of my study, I found that BuzzFeed and Upworthy’s social media optimization strategies went far beyond tinkering with the headlines of their articles: they optimized their production routines, editorial standards, brand identity, and organizational structure to align with Facebook’s algorithm as well. Ultimately, I argue that media publishers are beginning to assume the values, perspectives, and ontologies of social media platforms as their own.