Odd Lots Ben Smith on the End of an Era for Digital Media
8 snips
May 12, 2023 
Ben Smith, editor-in-chief of Semafor and author of "Traffic," shares his insights on the decline of digital media startups like BuzzFeed News and Vice. He discusses how venture capital affected their strategies and the shift towards provocation-driven traffic. Smith reflects on the challenges of merging serious journalism with entertainment and the influence of AI on content creation. He explores the evolving business models in a fragmented landscape and the impact of metrics on journalistic integrity amidst the shifting tides of news consumption.
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BuzzFeed News' Origins
- BuzzFeed News was created partly due to the belief that the Facebook news feed was a central pillar of society.
- It was also an attempt to elevate BuzzFeed's image beyond just memes and quizzes, positioning it as a serious media outlet.
The Content Mix Problem
- BuzzFeed's mix of serious news and lighthearted content initially seemed plausible in the early 2010s social media landscape.
- This mix later became problematic as political discourse grew more polarized and the tone of social media shifted.
The Traffic Commodity
- Early internet publishers saw traffic as a commodity, aiming to monetize each click.
- Nick Denton and Jonah Peretti had different approaches to generating traffic, with Denton focusing on exposing hypocrisy and Peretti on positive, shareable content.
