Reddit goes into “read-only” mode; Digg quality crumbles as a result

Wednesday, May 5, 2010 By 41 Comments

Two sites, Reddit and Digg, went into emergency mode today as Reddit had technical difficulties preventing users from submitting new content to the site.

reddit is in “emergency read-only mode” right now. :( you won’t be able to log in. we’re sorry, and are working frantically to fix the problem.

Other social news sites such as Digg experienced a drop in the quality of content as one of the primary sources for content, Reddit, went into “read-only mode” making it challenging for many top Digg users to find content. The front page of Digg has not yet experienced the fallout as most of the top images today were from yesterday’s Reddit front page, but tomorrow is expected to be a low-Digg-count-day with Redditors unable to supply Digg users with content to submit.

Many Redditors were seen outside today. Some made their monthly trip to the grocery store, barber shops, and liquor stores early, while others simply experienced external weather conditions for the first time in ages.

[Read more...]

Filed Under: Digg, Reddit Tagged With: ,

Reddit Founder Discusses Social Media on TED

Monday, February 8, 2010 By 2 Comments

When Alexis speaks, Redditors listen.

From Mashable:

We’ll start things off with a real-life social media parable about how the biggest and most effective forces on the web usually take shape by accident. Alexis Ohanian of Reddit.com tells the quick and hilarious story of how the social web provided some unexpected help to Greenpeace in halting the Japanese whaling industry. Internet marketers take note: The meme is all powerful, and it cannot be controlled.

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Learn more about Social Media Marketing on this blog.

Filed Under: Reddit, Social Media Tagged With: ,

How Spam Killed Digg, Reddit, and StumbleUpon

Friday, December 25, 2009 By 16 Comments

Blame SpamThe statement could be pushed over to just about any true Web 2.0 site where voting and popularity determine the success of a piece of content. Facebook, Twitter, and MySpace – overrun by spam. Mixx, Propeller, Yahoobuzz – spam havens.

For social news powerhouses Digg, Reddit, and StumbleUpon to be so changed by the presence of gobs and gobs of spam hits a little harder. They are the sites where I started my journey in Web 2.0. They are the shiny beacons of user-controlled, traffic-generating goodness that made mainstream media look to the people for their opinions and discoveries.

They are, for all intents and purposes, shells of what they should be, and spam is to blame. Perhaps more importantly, how they handled spam over the years has caused them to close their networks in one way or another through a series of witchhuntesque spam countermeasures.

[Read more...]

Filed Under: Digg, Reddit, Social News Sites, Stumbleupon Tagged With: , , ,

News Niblets: Social Media’s Best and Worst Quality

Monday, September 8, 2008 By 5 Comments

NibletsMany 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...]

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

The Godfather and Social Media

Friday, September 5, 2008 By 10 Comments

Vito as StumbleUpon?In many ways, the top level websites of social media can be compared to the fictional world of The Godfather.  Sounds weird?  Hear me out.

The Godfather showed us a world of beauty and corruption.  Alliances were made and broken.  Those who were good to the family were rewarded, while anyone who stepped in the way was hit.

Social media works in much the same way.  It can be beautiful, offering the best of the web compiled into loosely organized areas where masses of people can flood a worthy website and enjoy its offerings.  It can be corrupt, as spammers use the power of social media to drive traffic to unworthy websites. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Social Internet, Social Networking Sites, Social News Sites 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: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
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