The Simple Truth About Digg’s Lack of Profits

Sunday, January 4, 2009 By 18 Comments

It was hard.  For as long as I can remember, I have not been one who clicks on banner ads.  Heck, in most cases, I don’t even see them (thank you FF).

A friend of mine who is an avid reader turned me onto Audible.com to download audio books.  With recent articles in BusinessWeek and TechCrunch about the financial woe’s they’re having at Digg, I remembered seeing an Audible ad on Digg and thought, why not?

Audible Ad on Digg

I’m going to be signing up for the service anyway.  Why not throw a bone to the site that consumes a ton of my time?

The results weren’t good:

Bad URL

These things happen.  I sent an email to Digg pointing out the issue and waited.  It is now 4 days later.  I surfed Digg, doing my thing, checking every time I went to a new page to see if my target ad had found me.  It eventually did, but still, it didn’t work. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Digg, Social Internet, Social Marketing, Social Media, Social News Sites Tagged With: , , , ,

Call to Compile a List of Social Media Sites

Saturday, October 18, 2008 By 14 Comments

Hello friends!  I want to compile a list of social media websites.  All of them.

Social Media Master List

We all know the basics – Digg, Mixx, Reddit, Propeller, etc. – but what about the others?  There are probably three hundred trillion of them, give or take, and I would like to compile a complete list.  If you know of any, please post them here in the comments.

Thanks!

Filed Under: Social Internet, Social Marketing, Social Media, Social Media Marketing, Social Networking Sites Tagged With: ,

Should Digg Adopt a HuffPo Rule?

Monday, September 29, 2008 By 5 Comments

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:

Digg Huffington Post [Read more...]

Filed Under: Digg, Social Internet, Social Marketing, Social Media, Social Media Marketing Tagged With: , ,

Pwned: The StumbleUpon Digg Experiment Initial Results

Friday, September 5, 2008 By 23 Comments

First, a disclaimer about this experiment and the analysis.

In retrospect, this experiment was flawed.  The subject matter and style of delivery was very clearly geared in favor of one of the combatants.  When it was initially conceived, it was decided that the experiment would best be delivered through a post that announced itself.  By checking traffic statistics on a post titled: “The StumbleUpon Digg Experiment”, there would be equal billing, equal exposure, and most importantly, equal chances through the delivery methods to give both sides a chance.

We were wrong. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Digg, Social Internet, Social Marketing, Social Media, Social Media Marketing, Social News Sites, Stumbleupon Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,

Front Page Addiction: Destroying Families, Ruining Lives

Sunday, August 31, 2008 By 18 Comments

*** As my first real parody piece, I am moving this up in the blog to see if it gets more comment luv. ***

A little-known but dangerous epidemic is spreading across members of social media websites like Digg, Reddit, Propeller, Newsvine, and Mixx.  Like a secret scourge, SM-FPA (social media front page addiction) isn’t making national headines yet, but the effects have been felt in thousands of households across the world.

“Ever since my wife’s submission hit the front page of Reddit last month, we only see her on the way to the bathroom,” said Jake Dixon.  His wife Amber, better known as “diggwho”, made the front page of Reddit with a story titled Bush makes more people mad by saying something stupid.  Since then, Amber has been submitting 15-25 stories per day and has a submission hit the front page 3-5 times per week.  She declined to be interviewed.

Research scientists at the Social Media Institute of Technology (SMIT) in Kolkata, India, say that Mr. Dixon and his family are not alone.  They have documented 342 confirmed cases of SM-FPA in 2007 and estimate the actual number in the thousands. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Social Internet, Social Marketing, Social Media, Social News Sites Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

The StumbleUpon Digg Experiment

Friday, August 29, 2008 By 76 Comments

DiggStumbleUpon(The results are in.  Read them at StumbleUpon vs Digg).

Bloggers and webmasters out there who watch their traffic as closely as we do have been amazed by the “Stumble Effect”.  Many know about the sudden burst of traffic that comes from the “Digg Effect” when a submission reaches the front page of Digg (or even better, if it reaches the “Top in All…” section on the frontpage).  This is normally a day of joy (or terror if your server bombs) followed by limited tricklings of traffic.

Stumble has a different, more steady infusion of traffic that it can send to a website that gets stumbled, especially if it is hit by multiple top users.  The effect is sustained, but more importantly, can be rejuvinated by a thumbs up and/or review by the right person/people.

Digg, on the other hand, has the advantage of having “controlled” traffic.  Anyone watching their posts as they’re submitted and rising on Digg can pinpoint if and approximately when their page will go popular.  You know when the traffic is coming and you know when it will stop. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Digg, Social Internet, Social Marketing, Social Media, Social Media Marketing, Stumbleupon Tagged With: , , , , ,
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