Should Digg Adopt a HuffPo Rule?
OK, so everyone knows that the majority of Digg users lean to the left on most political issues. Everyone on Digg should know that Huffington Post leans way to the left on all political issues. It’s natural to think that the site would have a huge following on Digg and would get a ton of front page stories.
Over 7 a day - that’s a little overboard.
Still, that’s what happens to stories when they are submitted to Digg. With a careful use of clever, tilted headlines and an aggressive user base, HuffPo has had 52 stories hit the front page in the last 7 days. This is not new. In fact, there are times when this would be a low number. They have tremendous traffic and take advantage of the traffic for Digg’s sake with a nicely placed Digg button accompanied by a request to “support” the story.
Here is an image that tells a lot about the current Digg front page:
Spoof about Digg: Money and Bannings, The Future of Digg
When my wife brought this to my attention, she was worried. She noticed that some of our friends were on the list of upcoming bannings and thought we should warn them.
The sad part is not that she did not recognize it as a spoof. The sad part is that it COULD HAVE BEEN TRUE. With the eratic behavior that Digg and its upper management have been displaying of late, there is no telling what they might try to pull next. Zaibatsu - gone. FameMoney - gone. DiggBoss - gone. Countless others - gone, gone, gone. Read more
At Digg, the Bannings Will Continue Until Morale Improves
It seems that Digg is being a little hard on the Beaver. The banned count is nearing the century mark with no end in sight. While it is fair to ban those who have broken the rules, the tough part to swallow is the fact that most if not all of the recently dismissed seem to be in a permanent state of oblivion. Digg really needs to consider some aspects of their site and their users before giving no second chances to the majority who have been banned.
In short, this is a plea to Digg.
While many are rejoicing at the idea of the “cheaters” getting banned, I would like to point out a few things. Yes, there was a blog post, and yes, it is in the TOS, but few people read the blog posts and nobody reads the TOS. Even though ignorance of the law is no excuse in any state other than California, the proper way to handle this is to suspend the accounts until they agree to follow the rules. Read more
Mixx vs Propeller: One’s Going Up, the Other, well
Recent changes at both Propeller and Mixx have pushed the inevitable forward. Mixx, the brainchild of Chris McGill, has been poised for success for about a year now. Propeller, the once-proud Netscape, was doomed the moment that AOL stepped into the picture.
If recent trends on Alexa (which we all know are not always accurate) give any indication about what is happening, then Mixx is making the move to become the 3rd choice amonst social media sites. Propeller, on the other hand, is heading down, down, down as users have expressed concerns about a lack of communication from the administrators as well as a disastrous redesign that threatened to push its dwindling core of users off to another site (perhaps even Mixx). Read more
Digg Gets a Little More Interactive. Just a little.
As we approach the 1 year anniversary of the day that Kevin Rose and Jay Adelson said they were going to allow more communication between the Digg staff and actual Diggers, they have unveiled 2 categories on the Digg blog.
Okay, it’s not that big of a deal, but in Digg-addressing-user-concerns terms, this is a moment in history to be remembered. Read more
News Niblets: Social Media’s Best and Worst Quality
Many people love appetizers. They’re usually overpriced, under-portioned, and loaded with calories, but we love them anyway. Why? Because they’re quick, easy, and too the point.
Social media websites like Digg, Reddit, and Propeller offer the same product in the form of headlines. We get to nibble on the news, taking it in bits and pieces, served to us through headlines that are often sensationalized or pointed. While some people take the nibble and move on the main course by reading the full story, a good portion of us live on the appetizers. We read the headlines, possibly read the descriptions, occasionally scan the story (or even just the first few paragraphs), then it’s back to the social media site for the next bite of news via headlines.
Some never make it past the headlines, establishing a reaction or opinion based on the nibblet. This is good. This is also bad. Read more
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JD Rucker
