Mary McNamara: From BuzzFeed to Netflix, digital media promised revolution. And a bloody business it's been

The time has come for us to stop using the term "digital revolution" in such a catchphrase-cute way, with the inevitable emphasis on "digital" and little thought for the meaning, and historical realities, of "revolution."

When BuzzFeed Chief Executive Jonah Peretti announced Thursday that BuzzFeed News was being shuttered, my first thought was, "Well, there goes Robespierre."

Maximilien Robespierre being one of the architects of the French Revolution, whose desire to create a perfect republic ultimately led him to the excesses of the Great Terror, and in turn to the same guillotine where he had helped send so many others.

I did not think it in a mean way. Though