What is Digg?47 Comments
- awhiteflame, on 10/10/2007, -4/+65Digg? Really?
Digg is still for the most part a tech site. If you ask the average teen, they will not know what Digg is. Digg is only part of the big-four in digg-users' minds. - OBKenobi, on 10/10/2007, -4/+23This article forgot to include the gaming, porn, p2p/warez, overclocking/hardware, and hacking communities. They have their own social networking tools and services and have had them before any of these Web 2.0 sites ever sprang up.
E.g. WoW, it is one gigantic community. STEAM is another. Xbox Live. And I think you are aware of how close-nit the bittorrent scene is? I'm not going to mention any porn sites, but there are quite a few with their own Web 2.0 features.
I don't think the Diggs and Facebooks are going to take over the internet. I think Digg will always remain as a popular news discussion site--it's really just a forum of sorts if you think about it--while Facebook and sites like MySpace will eventually go the way of AOL. People gather together by interests, not by all-encompassing "communities" that try to be all to everyone and provide every service imaginable. - konspence, on 10/10/2007, -0/+12Awhiteflame is actually right I think. Digg is not a mainstream site. I don't consider it a tech site ANYMORE, but more as a voting-system-style site with ebaumsworld-style content (eg "HILARIOUS" pics, old chain letters with mainstream humor, "INCREDIBLE FACTS", etc.) But still, Digg is just a niche site, and just because news outlets are adding Digg this buttons doesn't make it a mainstream site. It means that they're trying to cater to one of the few news sites where you can submit stories.
And when you say "Digg ain't nuttin' to ***** with", it's because there are still the 20-30% of members from the tech-oriented Digg who have stuck around. - skealoha86, on 10/10/2007, -3/+10who decided those were the "Social Media Four"?
- skjalff, on 10/10/2007, -2/+8Riiight... Facebook, YouTube, Digg... wow, the article is written by someone who has obviously lost touch with reality. Digg has never been, is not and never will be playing in the same yard with Facebook and YouTube. To imply otherwise is downright delusional
- Duncan3, on 10/10/2007, -0/+5You say "plans for web domination" when clearly you meant "plans to put ads in everything", because there isn't exactly a way to charge people for any of that, and we're all running adblock anyway.
- tf5bassist, on 10/10/2007, -5/+9Not true. Major media groups have realized the "Digg Effect" in full force, with most--if not all--major newspapers, television networks, and other mass-media "traditional news outlets" making the "Digg This!" button ubiquitous on their articles, as well as others such as Newsvine, and now Facebook. Just take a look around, corporate America knows...
Digg ain't nuttin' to ***** with!
sorry, couldn't resist that. :D - Armor1901, on 10/10/2007, -0/+4Just how exactly does one "conquer" the Internet?
- rabidmonkey1, on 10/10/2007, -5/+7Alternative tagline: Or why diggers don't have girlfriends.
- Guroom, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2Very well said OB
- meshman, on 10/10/2007, -7/+9Well balanced, well written commentary. Kudos for not using the term 'Web 2.0'.
- tf5bassist, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2Well put, I can see your point.
- DarkPhoen1x, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1Since when are facebook and myspace competing with digg?
- k3nshady89, on 10/10/2007, -1/+2wtf is flickr?
- Murdats, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1yes, curse them hiding behind their users.
how dare digg blame users for user submitted content. they should man up and say, its my fault that user broke the rules he agreed to, we removed the content afterwards, but its still my fault he submitted it anyway - PixelVision, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1The digg effect isn't anything new. Slashdot's been having that effect for years. I see more del.icio.us buttons than anything else while the "digg this" buttons are mainly on small to midsize blogs and ezines. Digg is popular, but it doesn't provide anything compared to the other three.
- FlyingFredCurry, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1I just don't see the huge looming legal risk...
Specifically, I disagree with the second half of your your premise: "Social websites must filter because damaging content can never be truly erased."
Keep in mind that content on *any* reproducible medium "can never be truly erased"; e.g., content stored on paper can be copied and distributed, too -- just not as fast as content on the Internet can (if you're not on dial-up... ;-)
As far as input filtering -- that's already here in the form of spam/phishing filters and moderators. On TV they have the 5-second delay (...thank-you Janet Jackson ;-). - carguy84, on 10/10/2007, -2/+3Digg? What? In this crowd? Puff puff give. I love digg, but no.
- kenvsryu, on 10/10/2007, -1/+2Just you wait for clownce!!!
- tf5bassist, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1roughly the same way Tron beat the MCP?
- ThirdPrize, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1Yahoo own Flickr so maybe Yahoo should buy Digg as well. No, wait ...
- cplusplus, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1Sadly its true... these sites are going to dominate. We need open versions of them yesterday. Not an API for each one - yuck.
- FlyingFredCurry, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1From the "Totalitarian's Guide to Domination":
"To conquer an abstraction, such as Fear, Faith in the supernatural, or a Political Ideal, [...or "The Internet" -ed.] simply (a.) assert that you have already done so, (b.) threaten to kill all those foolhardy enough to challenge your assertion, and (c.) kill some examples in public." - Murdats, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1if you ask the average net dweller what digg is, they will know.
I bet the average teen doesnt know flikr either, perhaps more of them do, but that is because pictures are more appealing then news - pawas01, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1yeh, delicious is cool, its better than any other, and more trustworthy.
http://www.columbiashoes.us - chubbybubba, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1Thats why other mainstream media papers, news etc are held liable for any content they publish. Sites like digg, youtube etc hide behind their users stating content is "user generated". (let me just clarify that I support Digg and youtube etc., I'm a big user myself. I just think people have to understand that legally they are in a gray area.)
- rkminc, on 10/10/2007, -1/+2This puts it into perspective:
http://siteanalytics.compete.com/digg.com+flickr.com+facebook.com?metric=uv - rkminc, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1
Facebook kicks the llama's ass in engagement metrics (time online).
http://siteanalytics.compete.com/digg.com+flickr.com+facebook.com?metric=attD
It's all about stickiness. This is what Google was looking for when they bought youtube:
http://siteanalytics.compete.com/facebook.com+youtube.com?metric=uv - sophiaperennis, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1Kill someone with a Trident.
- ChileanGoD, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1Spear a flag on top of a server?.
- twrife, on 10/10/2007, -1/+1I'm burying you down because I don't know what succint means.
Now I'm going to get buried down.
(8)Circle of life... - inactive, on 10/10/2007, -0/+0You forgot to mention delicious
- thoughttrain, on 10/10/2007, -0/+0I did not know about digg.com before I started blogging. Facebook however came with college friends.
- mwdcodeninja, on 10/10/2007, -2/+1Great, maybe Digg can buy Flickr and they can finally get their PIC section....
- regtweakerchris, on 10/10/2007, -1/+0So long as I don't find my mom on Facebook when I'm Digging, trying to avoid her ass at family reunions.
- mjesq, on 10/10/2007, -6/+5These four big boys truly do dominate, it's going to be interesting to see what companies will make for successful competition, if any...
- execute85, on 10/10/2007, -4/+2Um, hello MySpace. It's way bigger than FaceBook.
It's annoying how nerds think FaceBook is somehow cooler than myspace. It's not, they are both lame. Although I am lame, I don't have an account with either. - Gundark, on 10/10/2007, -2/+0Facebook, MySpace. What a huge freaking waste of time. At least on Digg I can get some real news between the fluff articles.
- Darmichar, on 10/10/2007, -4/+2...or how msaleem turned Digg into his personal bitch. Looks like the circle jerk is running full speed again.
- chubbybubba, on 10/10/2007, -4/+2Everybody better get a grip of the reality of things. These sites (though great) rely on one thing. I know you're thinking I'm going to say "community" but you're wrong. They exist because these sites have not been fully challenged legally. Of great importance to the survival of these sites is the concept of who is responsible for it's content. These sites exist and do well because they don't need to screen out content prior to "publishing", they only need to remove offending content after the fact. These sites claim that it's users are responsible for content that is generated (and fairly so). However, everyone here knows that when something is "posted" online it is somewhere online FOREVER. It cannot be truly erased. Legally this truth has yet to be challenged. Substantial cases currently may not exist but WILL exist in the future. Someone, their reputation or themselves will be damaged by something posted that can't be erased. Then like dominos laws will be made to punish sites that don't filter content prior to posting. That's when the bubble will burst my friends. It's not IF its When.
- HEROofGUITAR, on 10/10/2007, -5/+0Buried for not having a cat macro. kthx.
No one accuses digg of taking over the web! They are dugg very underground at this point, IMO. - inactive, on 10/10/2007, -8/+3muhammad.saleem.com?
- quintonfig, on 10/10/2007, -10/+3Yeah, great insight for sure. Thanks :)
- suxmonkey, on 10/10/2007, -12/+5Another great review by Saleem - very thorough but also succinct.
The Digg Toolbar for Firefox lets you Digg, submit content, and keep track of Digg even when you're not on the Digg site. Download the official 
© Digg Inc. 2009
— Content created and posted by Digg users is