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Social News Watch
My StumbleUpon PageDigg wins in 2007, Looking great in 2008
2007 was the year that social media truly emerged as a power player on the Internet. 2008 will be the year that it hits the next, final level. Expect Digg.com to lead the way in more ways than traffic.
First, the numbers. Compete.com shows that 2007 was huge for all of the major social media sites. Even though Reddit showed the highest percentage increase, Digg is still tracking at 10 times more traffic. The graph below compares Digg, Reddit, and StumbleUpon. You’ll notice that Reddit and StumbleUpon have very similar trends, while Digg has mixed movement — sometimes huge increases, sometime steady. This really speaks to the growth potential — it can jump up at any time.
Don’t Submit this Story to Digg
Warning: submitting this story to Digg will result in a quick burial.
Over the last two months, we’ve had a lot of fun with this blog, thinking of stories and headlines that would appeal to social media users. Since social news is the topic, we didn’t think it would be that hard. All three of us are active on several SM sites with friends who are even more active. It was the perfect fit.
After 8 stories that made the front page of Digg, we have officially pissed some people off. It’s my fault for being too arrogant, too greedy, too addicted to the traffic boost and mass exposure. We used a ton of “digg bait” that has proven to be our downfall. Read more
Please buy me a cup of coffee.Winds of Change in Social Media Promise Improvements
On the internet, change is part of the definition. In social media, changes are happening literally by the minute. 2008 promises to show humungous growth and an incredible amount of change for major and minor social media websites.
Certain things will be universal as the websites below grow. Some were acquired, some will be acquired in the future, but one thing that we have seen and that we will continue to see is a lack of a shake-up based upon the acquisitions. When a larger company buys a smaller company in the “real world”, there are normally big changes made right from the start. These changes rarely result in mass exodus of employees (unless done by design) nor does it yield a major drop in consumers.
Please buy me a cup of coffee.Why Reddit is More Politically Powerful than Other Social Media Websites
Digg has the traffic. StumbleUpon has the users. Reddit has the game when it comes to influencing political opinions.
All of the top social media websites have their advantages and disadvantages. For political prowess, Reddit has the one major advantage and several minor advantages that make it more of a focal point for politicians than the mass exposure that Digg and StumbleUpon enjoy. The major advantage is the discussion and debate through comments. Read more
Please buy me a cup of coffee.The Year that Stumble and Digg will hit the Bridge Club Level
This really should be two separate stories, but we’ll consolidate because there are just to many similarities in the reasons why both Digg and StumbleUpon will take their already-mammoth popularity and truly become household names beyond just the tech households of the world.
Social media in general is growing, but there is still a thin but clear gap between the point that Digg and StumbleUpon currently enjoy and that next level that would yield exponential growth in visitors, pageviews, and popularity. Call it the tipping point, and there are several points in a website’s life that can be called that, but this particular one is the last that either will enjoy. Read more
Please buy me a cup of coffee.2008: Year of the Mini Social Networks
MySpace, Facebook, and the other large social networks need not worry. The small, niche social network sites that are popping up faster than poker rooms in the 90’s are not going to hurt the big boy’s bottom lines. They’re just going to draw more people by the end of the year because of one fact.
They’re just more useful than the big sites.
The appeal that brought millions to form profiles and make friends on MySpace and Facebook will have the opposite effect in 2008 an beyond. We built our MySpace page and started Facebooking because everyone else was doing it. As closed social sites begin to gain in popularity, they will appeal to people because NOT everyone else is doing it. Inclusion is easy on today’s internet. Being part of something exclusive is becoming the new IT thing to do. Read more
Please buy me a cup of coffee.