| Ben Smith’s new book shows how the race for clicks spawned—then strangled—the new media.  Illustration by Matt Chase The publication of “Traffic,” by the journalist Ben Smith, has set off a fresh appraisal of recent media history—the period beginning in the twenty-tens, when the entrenchment of social-media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter fully upended the advertising model and turned a story’s potential for going viral into a top editorial priority. Smith is well suited to reflect on this moment, because, as the editor-in-chief of BuzzFeed News at the time, he was one of the people in charge. Or, at least, he appeared to be in charge. As Nathan Heller points out in an incisive review of the book, one of the realities of the traffic age was that even the powerful humans were subject to the whims of the social platforms and their all-deciding algorithms. The mantra of the era became, Heller notes, that “in the twenty-first century, the laws of traffic make demands, and we just follow.” What didn’t necessarily follow, it turns out, was the money. The release of Smith’s book has coincided with the demise of the news organization he once ran, after Jonah Peretti, BuzzFeed’s co-founder and C.E.O, announced that he had “overinvested” in BuzzFeed News. Today, Clare Malone talks to Peretti for her report on what went wrong, explaining why the likes of Facebook and Twitter proved to be inconstant partners in enabling the production and distribution of free high-quality journalism for all, and why today’s media startups are instead targeting niche, affluent audiences. Platforms may change, but, as Malone writes, “profits once again matter in media.” Read more: • BuzzFeed, Gawker, and the Casualties of the Traffic Wars
• Jonah Peretti Has Regrets About BuzzFeed News Support The New Yorker’s award-winning journalism. Subscribe today » | 
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