How ‘Going Viral’ Became a Thing

In “Traffic,” the journalist Ben Smith chronicles the nerdy genius, driven egos, and moral experimentation of the internet’s contagious media pioneers

On Feb. 13, 2014, a bored-at-work BuzzFeed quiz ricocheted around the web: “What State Do You Actually Belong In?”

The “actually” seemed to promise a solid, data-driven answer.

You remember how these quizzes work. Select a party anthem (“YMCA”), a quality in a dream partner (“ravenous”) and presto: your spiritual home. These quizzes were plenty diverting,…