Episode 369: Semafor’s Ben Smith Explores How “Traffic” Is Driven, from the Left and from the Right

Semafor co-founder and editor-in-chief Ben Smith, after writing miles worth of news articles and columns, has published his first book: TRAFFIC: Genius, Rivalry, and Delusion in the Billion-Dollar Race to Go Viral. Our ICE House conversation takes listeners on a drive from the nascent days of online media to the current digital landscape, with pitstops at key moments that defined the growth of the internet as both a source of news and place to invest capital. Ben’s own journey, from POLITICO to Buzzfeed to the Times, and now to founding Semafor, embodies the books narrative, from the first “viral” posts to putting his thesis for modern journalism to the test with his new entrepreneurial endeavor.  Inside the ICE House: https://www.theice.com/insights/conversations/inside-the-ice-house