Smith attempts to tell the entire 21st-century story of online media, and quite a bit of that story ends up in the book. Smith’s particularly good when he close-reads a particular publication in its ephemeral context.

Engrossing and suspenseful.

There is lots of delusion in this book. There is also a little bit of rivalry. But I have to be honest. I do not think there are any geniuses.

Through the stories of BuzzFeed and Gawker, Smith aims to show how the media, high on the early internet’s spirit of creative adventure and freedom, got hooked on traffic.

Graced with a keen eye and sharp wit, [Smith] has seen and heard plenty.

Illuminating.

Smith is a smart guy, a good reporter, and exudes an endearing—and enduring—earnestness about the media.

Ben Smith, former editor-in-chief of Buzzfeed News, lands on his promise to chronicle the rise of digital media through the story of a snowballing, head-to-head competition — between characters like Peretti and Nick Denton of Gawker Media, between the right and the left and, eventually, between the new found power of social networks and the institutions they helped create..

he author gives a detailed, smart account of the foibles of those early days, when no one knew how to conduct decent journalism and make money at the same time.

Riveting.