The Delusional Theory of Social Media

Ben Smith is the co-founder of Semafor and author of the forthcoming book Traffic joins Erik Torenberg and Antonio Garcia Martinez for a discussion about the hostility between tech and media, what digital media startups got wrong, analysis of institutions like The New York Times, and what the future of media holds.

Also, check out the debut of Erik's long-form interview podcast Upstream. He most recently interviewed Joe Lonsdale and David Sacks. Subscribe here: https://link.chtbl.com/Upstream

REFERENCES:

Ben's new book: Traffic: Genius, Rivalry, and Delusion in the Billion-Dollar Race to Go Viral

Semafor: https://www.semafor.com/

TIMESTAMPS:

(00:00) Intro

(4:00) Ben Smith’s book “Traffic”

(9:00) Buzzfeed’s cultural impact

(11:00) Regrets around the Steele Dossier

(16:00) Sponsors: Secureframe | MarketerHire

(17:30) Objectivity vs subjectivity in journalsim

(21:00) Left wing vs right wing journalism

(26:20) Tech media

(30:00) Cambridge Analytica bullshit

(34:00) Buzzfeed Uber controversy

(37:30) Tech and media fall out

(50:30) The root of tech vs media dissonance

(1:06:00) Free speech

(1:13:00) “The book is a eulogy to a rotting corpse that got what was coming to it”

(1:16:30) Ads vs subscription

(1:21:00) Future of media

TWITTER:

@MOZ_Podcast

@semaforben (Ben)

@eriktorenberg (Erik)

@antoniogm (Antonio)

More shownotes released in our Substack: https://momentofzen.substack.com/

Please support our sponsors: Beehiiv | Shopify | Secureframe | MarketerHire

Head to Beehiiv, the newsletter platform built for growth, to power your own. Connect with premium brands, scale your audience, and deliver a beautiful UX that stands out in an inbox. 🐝 to https://Beehiiv.com and use code “MOZ” for 20% off your first three months

-Shopify: https://shopify.com/momentofzen for a $1/month trial period

Shopify is the global commerce platform that helps you sell at every stage of your business. Shopify powers 10% of all e-commerce in the US. And Shopify’s the global force behind Allbirds, Rothy’s, and Brooklinen, and 1,000,000s of other entrepreneurs across 175 countries. From their all-in-one e-commerce platform, to their in-person POS system – wherever and whatever you’re selling, Shopify’s got you covered. With free Shopify Magic, sell more with less effort by whipping up captivating content that converts – from blog posts to product descriptions using AI. Sign up for $1/month trial period: https://shopify.com/momentofzen

- Secureframe: https://secureframe.com/

Secureframe is the leading all-in-one platform for security and privacy compliance. Get SOC-2 audit ready in weeks, not months. I believe in Secureframe so much that I invested in it, and I recommend it to all my portfolio companies. Sign up for a free demo and mention MOZ during your demo to get 20% off your first year.

- MarketerHire: https://marketerhire.com/moz

MarketerHire is one of my favorite resources for growing startups looking to hire marketers. With 1000s of pre-vetted marketers across a dozen roles, whether you need help with growth, marketing, SEO, lifecycle, content, or any other aspect of growth marketing strategy. Over 5,000 companies already use MarketerHire to hire expert marketers on demand, ranging from top venture-backed startups to the most well-known Fortune 500s.

Go to marketerhire.com/moz and use code MOZ to get your $1,000 credit for your first hire.

Thank you Graham Bessellieu for production.