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NEWS > TECHNOLOGY > DIGG BURYING IT'S USERS

DIGG BURYING IT'S USERS

July 27 2008

San Francisco, CA – Digg’s most recent dance at the big ball may have come to an abrupt end, with Google leaving the building after working the web 2.0 start-up into a frenzy, but Kevin Rose and company aren’t through with their flirtation. Back on the horse and ready to take another shot, the move to mainstream is essential for the long term success of the company, especially so Yahoo! Buzz on the way, threatening to take over the sweetheart status for good.

Little is known publicly about the almost deal with Google (or how all this would fit in with the proposed Google/Yahoo relationship) but rumour suggests that the Digg team themselves may have been their own undoing.

Complaints and criticism are always abundant when it comes to the Digg community, whether a result of algorithm changes, controversial stories, or seemingly irrational business decisions. None of this has done anything to hurt the popularity or range of influence the site continues to enjoy. One could argue that it may in fact be the opposite, with stories about the site itself inevitably reaching the homepage and driving the public appearance of the site even further.

One criticism that has consistently been levied against the site since the start and has never gone away has been the bury option, both because of its power to influence content, and because of its anonymous nature. One new criticism has come to light, and that may be the very reason that the Google deal fell through.

“The newest algorithm change, combined with the new recommendation system is burying particular users,” said Scrape TV technology Ken Kevins. “People with lousy and boring stories, people with two lines on a page and a million ads, people selling stuff, people submitting porn, those users never get promoted to the front page. The community seems to lean towards interesting and compelling content and not garbage, and the reality is that excludes ninety per cent of the web. These users don’t have a fair shot at making the front page because they get buried almost immediately. While I can kind of see the point from an end users perspective, those types of sites are about the only thing that makes money on the web. By engaging the bury option and sinking those types of submissions Digg is targeting the exact types of sites that companies like Google rely on to survive. Click an ad from Google, you’ll inevitably get a site no Digg user would ever visit voluntarily. How can the two be expected to work together?”

Indeed, the relationship seemed an awkward one from the start, a bit like being friends with someone who hates your significant other. “How can you have get togethers, birthday parties, whatever? One of the two would have to change, and inevitably the more passive would be the one to bend. Digg wants a relationship, but Google is only out for one thing.”

No one from Digg or Google has commented on the collapse of the deal, nor whether or not the bury option was actually the sticking point. One thing is for certain though, unless Digg can find someone who wants them for what they are, the company will either need to change or live the rest of its life alone.

Martin Philton, Technology Correspondent

NEWS > TECHNOLOGY > DIGG BURYING IT'S USERS