There is a social networking world out there that I had never even heard about. People are constantly talking about the popular sites like Facebook and Twitter (yes I am going to use this example again because they are the most common, and my favourites), but I had never heard of the site Digg. Digg? What does that even mean? Are you digging for some sort of information? I had no idea. So, again, my trusty friend Google answered my questions.
Digg is a social news website that allows people to discover and share content through the submission of links, news stories, videos and pictures. People are able to vote and comment on the posted links. The main purpose is to vote on a story. Voting stories up and down is Digg’s main function. You either Digg It or you Bury It. The stories that have been digged the most end up on the front page of the site. The content on Digg is unedited allowing its users to determine the value of each story.
Digg was first launched on December 5, 2004. Kevin Rose founded Digg in 2003 in San Francisco, California. His vision was to change the way news was gathered and let the masses “dig up” the information that interests them.
This is a great tool for finding out the main news headlines of the day without actually turning on the television or sorting through stories on a newspaper’s website. In fact, many news sites are realizing they can benefit from Digg as well. If they can get their story on Digg’s front page, their site will get a flood of traffic from the many people clicking on the link to read the full story.
For all you Facebook users out there you are able to use your Facebook account to login to Digg. This feature allows you to bypass registering for another social media account (which is great if you don’t want to remember another login and password!). Digg launched the new Facebook Connect in May 2009. You can add your Facebook friends to Digg and even post your Digg activity to your Facebook account. If you post a new article on Digg, your Facebook friends will be able to see the article you posted.
A cool feature of Digg is their Digg TV, which includes Diggnation, The Digg Reel and Digg Dialogg. Diggnation is weekly produced video podcast, hosted by Digg creator, Kevin Rose and Alex Albrecht. Diggnation’s main purpose is to discuss some of Digg’s most popular stories from that week. The first episode aired on July 1, 2005. In January 2008 The Digg Reel, the spin off to Diggnation was created. Andrew Bancroft hosts this video podcast. It focuses on the most popular videos from Digg that week. Digg Dialogg allows you to be the reporter. A very cool feature off Digg, it lets you submit your questions to a preselected famous individual. The Digg community decides the most popular questions for the interview.
At first glance the site is a little overwhelming. There are 16 top stories, a little much for the front page. I would probably start with the top 5 (maybe even 10) headlines so it does not look so cluttered. Digg is actually a great tool for checking out popular online headlines, and then if you want the full story you just clink on the link provided. One big problem is that there is no filter so you end up with un-newsworthy headlines and videos as well.
I am surprised I had not heard of Digg before because it is quite popular. However, I am not sure that I would use it again. If I want to get importanrt headline news I would rather go to a newspaper or news stations site instead.
Want to find out more about Digg? Become a Digg Pro here or by checking our Ginger’s blog!
Great blog post. I reviewed newsvine, I think they are very similar ideas. They are both great ways of finding out the news that people are talking about. A great tool for a PR student!
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