Started Using Digg again: 4 Things I noticed

I took a long break from digg after I returned from my tour in the Middle East. They updated the site sometime early this year, and I never got a chance to really check out the new system. One thing I noticed immediately was that there was a lot less relevant news content. My tech section, which I live and die by when submitting, is near death. Here are 4 things that I noticed with digg and the community.

1: The same people are getting stories to the FP regularly.

They implemented the algorithm change so that top digg submitters would not totally run the FP. Sadly, this has not worked. It takes 150-200ish votes to go FP for most users. Guess which users can get that many votes on a single story? Top diggers. I see a lot more excellent NEWS stories from normal users not go FP, and a funny pic from a top digger go FP. While I am all for trying to even out the community, I am not for less content.

2: Everyone is using IM.

I got 1 story to the FP a few days after returning, and I got hit with 14 IM friend requests within a few hours. Turns out, this is the main way that people get diggs these days. Every time I log on to IM now, I get 5-10 pm’s looking for diggs on content. This is fine, but at some point I feel weird having some guy promoting content for gizmodo or some other huge site.

3: Shouting, while widely considered spam, is really needed to get your submissions noticed.

I really don’t like the shout feature in regards to promoting submissions. Sadly, the only way that certain friends will digg submissions is if you shout it to them. A lot of people are too lazy to check friend’s submissions these days. I am virtually forced to shout a particular story if I want it to have a chance at FP.

4. The Tech news section is dying.

The only news that I submitted in the past was tech news. This was fine for my account. While my FP % suffered, if I had some good tech news, I knew it was going to the FP. I think I got 1 tech news post FP since I have been back. I am forced to submit pictures and political content because those sections are the most popular now.

While I don’t learn much on digg anymore, I do get a good laugh every now and then. Ironically it has changed my surfing habits, and I have subscribed to a lot more non-tech blogs recently. I just wish more love was given to the tech section

This entry was posted on Monday, June 2nd, 2008 at 3:22 pm and is filed under Social Networking. You can follow any responses to this entry through the comments feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

Tags: digg, friends, news, social networks

Posted in Social Networking

10 Responses to “Started Using Digg again: 4 Things I noticed”

Loren June 3rd, 2008 at 5:08 am

I’ve given up on Digging stories. I’ve also started using it a lot less. It’s become more of a blog aggregation service then a news site. The product reviews will only make it worse.

Does anyone else think Digg is killing off it’s original audience?

Peety June 3rd, 2008 at 9:22 am

“You HIT the nail right on the head..”

ob81 June 3rd, 2008 at 11:55 am

@Loren: Yes I do think that a lot of the original audience are either less active, or gone completely. I deleted about 40 friends that had not logged in for months. These were all hardcore diggers at one point.

psogle June 4th, 2008 at 1:41 am

This whole post is right on. I am disappointed with what has happened to the Tech section and want the front page of Digg to be more than a bunch of stupid articles and pictures.

shout June 4th, 2008 at 5:34 am

[…] considered spam, is really needed to get your submissions noticed.4. The Tech news section is dying.http://ob81.com/2008/06/02/started-using-digg-again-4-things-i-noticed/SHOUT […]

Niche Content June 4th, 2008 at 9:41 pm

Since my blogs aren’t favorite topics on Digg, the only thing I use it for is mainly to help get a brand new site indexed. After that, it’s useless from an SEO standpoint.

Mark Lancaster June 5th, 2008 at 12:03 pm

Exactly right.

This is pretty much the reason why JD and I started popFAIL, we’re really trying to help promote the content that should be promoted but didn’t make it due to the algorithm.