Blog

Digg Users Don’t Dig Digg

Sure. Digg’s heart might be in the right place, but in practice, does the system fall short? That’s the argument made by many Digg users who are having more than a little trouble getting their news stories seen or heard on the user-generated news site.

Digg was originally established in response to the mainstream media, which many felt did not portray or distribute news according to what would actually benefit or educate users. They also had complaints about the powerful systems of people (and companies) that control these news outlets.

But it seems that Digg has just become a smaller approximation of that very system. Because users’ stories gain popularity based on user reviews, the “powerdiggers” (those who have accrued a powerful network of fellow diggers) are much more likely for their stories to be seen, read, and shared.

Just look at the story “Apple is an evil, evil company.” A relative unknown posted the story and received a meager 21 diggs. But when a much more established digger posted the exact story one hour later, it reached 2,752 diggs—and the front page.

This kind of in-crowd behavior has actually driven many users away. Prevalent story stealing…important news going to the wayside…? “What is this,” Digg users wonder, “the nightly news!?”

In response to these problems, users are fleeing to other news site such as Reddit.com. A similar premise to Digg, these users are anonymous to ensure that no one user gets undue recognition just by virtue of a reputation.