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Digg

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Digg, Inc.
Company typePrivate
FoundedSan Francisco, California (December 5, 2004 (2004-12-05))[1]
FounderKevin Rose[2]
HeadquartersSan Francisco, California, United States
Area served
Worldwide
Key people
Kevin Rose (Founder)
Jay Adelson (CEO)
Scott Baker (Operations Director)
John Moffett (CFO)
Brian Link (Director of Site Development)[3]
Number of employees
71[2]
Websitedigg.com

Digg is a social news website made for people to discover and share content from anywhere on the Internet, by submitting links and stories, and voting and commenting on submitted links and stories. Voting stories up and down is the site's cornerstone function, respectively called digging and burying. Many stories get submitted every day, but only the most Dugg stories appear on the front page. Digg's popularity has prompted the creation of other social networking sites with story submission and voting systems.[4]

History and description

Digg, Version 1.6

Digg started out as an experiment in November 2004 by Kevin Rose, Owen Byrne, Ron Gorodetzky, and Jay Adelson. All except Byrne currently play an active role in the management of the site. "We started working on developing the site back in October 2004," Rose told ZDNet.[5] "We started toying around with the idea a couple of months prior to that, but it was early October when we actually started creating what would become the beta version of Digg. The site launched to the world on December 5, 2004." Rose's friend, David Prager (The Screen Savers, This Week in Tech), originally wanted to call the site "Diggnation", but Rose wanted a simpler name. He chose the name "Digg", because users are able to "dig" stories, out of those submitted, up to the front page. The site was called "Digg" instead of "Dig" because the domain name "dig.com" had been previously registered by the Walt Disney Internet Group. "Diggnation" would eventually be used as the title of Rose and Alex Albrecht's weekly podcast discussing popular stories from Digg.

The original design was free of advertisements, and was designed by Dan Ries. As Digg became more popular, Google AdSense was added to the website. In July 2005, the site was updated to "Version 2.0". The new "version" featured a friends list, the ability to "digg" a story without being redirected to a "success" page, and a new interface designed by web design company Silverorange.[6] The site developers have stated that in future versions a more minimalist design will likely be employed. On Monday June 26, 2006 version 3 of Digg was released with specific categories for Technology, Science, World & Business, Videos, Entertainment and Gaming as well as a View All section where all categories are merged. Digg has grown large enough that submissions sometimes create a sudden increase of traffic to the "dugg" website. This is referred to by some Digg users as the "Digg effect" and by some others as the site being "dugg to death". However, in many cases stories are linked simultaneously on several popular bookmarking sites. In such cases, the impact of the "digg effect" is difficult to isolate and assess. Wordpress is especially known for its tendency to crash under the increased traffic.[7] On August 27, 2007, Digg altered its main interface, mostly in the profile area. The domain "digg.com" attracted at least 236 million visitors annually by 2008 according to a Compete.com survey.

Potential sale

Several reports have come forward claiming Digg has been trying to sell itself to a larger company since early 2006.[8] While Adelson claims that Digg will meet with any potential buyers, he denies that they will actively begin talks for a sale. The most recent sale talks were with Google in July 2008 for approximately 200 million dollars. On July 25, during the due diligence part of the potential sale, Google informed Digg that they were not interested in the purchase.[9] As a result of Google's decision, Digg entered into a third round of funding, receiving $28.7 million from investors such as Highland Capital Partners. With this funding, the company plans to move from their current offices to accommodate a bigger staff base.[10] On December 2, 2008, BusinessWeek reported "Digg Chief Executive Officer Jay Adelson says the popular news aggregation Web site is no longer for sale, and the focus of the company is to build an independent business that reaches profitability as quickly as possible. That means the four-year-old startup will dial back some of its expansion plans, instead prioritizing projects that generate revenue and profit".[11] On December 18, 2008, BusinessWeek analyzed Digg's financial statements. They reported that Digg lost 4 million dollars on 6.4 million dollars of revenue in the first three quarters of 2008. [12]

Website

Digg Inc is based mostly from its Digg.com website. Many of Digg's new developments are improvements and features to its website.

Facebook Connect

In May of 2009 Digg launched a new feature called Facebook Connect.[13] Facebook connect allows users of Digg and Facebook to connect their accounts. When a Facebook account is connected to a Digg account, Digg articles can then be shared on the user's Facebook page.[14] Facebook Connect also allows Facebook users to log into Digg with their Facebook account, thus bypassing the normally required Digg registration.

Digg Dialogg

Digg Dialogg allows Digg users to submit questions to a preselected famous individual who agrees to do an interview with a reporter chosen by Digg. [15]

Digg Bar

On April 2nd, 2009, Digg released the Digg Bar, which provides a toolbar above the top of a site allowing the user to produce shortened urls, or access digg comments and analytics without leaving the page.[16]

Criticism

Digg has come under criticism for varying reasons. Most disparagements are centered on the site's form of user-moderation: users have too much control over content, allowing sensationalism and misinformation to thrive. {{citation}}: Empty citation (help)[17][18] The site has also suffered the risk of companies paying for stories submitted to the site,[19][20][21][22] similar to the phenomenon of company-attempted Google bombing. Other critics feel that the site's operators may exercise too much control over which articles appear on the front page as well as the comments on Digg's forums.[23][24] Some users complain that they have been blocked from posting, and their accounts disabled, for making comments in the user-moderated forums that conflict with the personal interests of Digg's operators.[25] The existence of the "bury" option has also been criticized as undemocratic and due to its anonymous nature, unaccountable,[26] which often leads to expungement of criticism of hotbed topics that do not mesh with the prevailing view of the community, which has been characterized as liberal or left-leaning by some critics [27] and users.[28] Another criticism in this area has been[29] how a faulty or misleading article can reach many users quickly, blowing out of proportion the unsupported claims or accusations (a mob mentality). Certain Digg users have been accused of operating a "Bury Brigade" that tags articles with which they disagree as spam,[18][30][31] thus attempting to bury stories critical of Digg. One commentator states that one of the site's major problems: "...is the ability of a small number of users to "bury" stories without accountability. Burying news is meant to help separate spam and inaccurate stories from the general morass of ordinary, viable stuff.

It has been reported that the top 100 Digg users posted 56% of Digg's frontpage content, and that a niche group of just twenty individuals had submitted 25% of the frontpage content.[32][23] A few sites[18] have raised the problem of groupthink and the possibility that the site is being "manipulated", so to speak. In response to this question, the site's founder Kevin Rose has announced an upcoming change to the site's algorithm:[33] "While we don't disclose exactly how story promotion works (to prevent gaming the system), I can say that a key update is coming soon. This algorithm update will look at the unique digging diversity of the individuals digging the story. Users that follow a gaming pattern will have less promotion weight. This doesn't mean that the story won't be promoted, it just means that a more diverse pool of individuals will be needed to deem the story homepage-worthy."[34]

Marketing tool

Digg has become a very effective marketing tool for entrepreneurs. However, companies on social bookmarking sites have the image of an outsider, or a third party. Oftentimes, businesses are not in tune with the community surrounding social bookmarking sites and can alienate "friends" with incessant company news (aka spam). In order to function within the community, entrepreneurs need to follow social bookmarking etiquette--contribute, be honest, get involved. [35]

AACS encryption key controversy

Wikinews has related news:
Main article: AACS encryption key controversy

On May 1, 2007 an article appeared on Digg’s homepage that contained the encryption key for the AACS digital rights management protection of HD DVD and Blu-ray Disc. Then Digg, "acting on the advice of its lawyers", removed posting submissions about the secret number from its database and banned several users for submitting it. The removals were seen by many Digg users as a capitulation to corporate interests and an assault on free speech.[36] A statement by Jay Adelson attributed the article’s take-down to an attempt to comply with cease and desist letters from the Advanced Access Content System consortium and cited Digg’s Terms of Use as justification for taking down the article.[37] Although some users defended Digg's actions,[38][39][40] as a whole the community staged a widespread revolt with numerous articles and comments being made using the encryption key.[41][42] The scope of the user response was so great that one of the Digg users referred to it as a "digital Boston Tea Party".[43] The response was also directly responsible for Digg reversing the policy and stating: "But now, after seeing hundreds of stories and reading thousands of comments, you’ve made it clear. You’d rather see Digg go down fighting than bow down to a bigger company. We hear you, and effective immediately we won’t delete stories or comments containing the code and will deal with whatever the consequences might be."[44]

Digg Bar

File:DiggBar.png
Digg Bar on Wikipedia homepage

After its release the Digg Bar rapidly became the target of criticism, for framing the original webpage and not redirecting the user to the original url.[45][46] There is an ongoing worry about whether the Digg Bar would lower sites' page rank because the shortened urls fail to give 'link credit' to the original sites.[47] Several content management systems released plugins that blocked the Digg Bar and Engadget began redirecting users to the original urls.[48]

See also

References

  1. ^ Corporate Profile - Digg, Inc., 2006-09-28, retrieved 2009-01-18
  2. ^ a b http://digg.com/about/
  3. ^ "Digg Inc". Business Week. Retrieved May 9 , 2009. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
  4. ^ Pat McCarthy (2006-09-10). "Revisiting Top 10 Web Predictions of 2006". Conversionrater.com. Retrieved 2009-02-27.
  5. ^ MacManus, Richard (2006-02-01). "Interview with Digg founder Kevin Rose, Part 1". ZDNet. Retrieved 2006-07-15.
  6. ^ "Digg". Silverorange. Retrieved 2009-02-27.
  7. ^ "Diggproof your Wordpress". Circle 6 Design. 2007-01-22. Retrieved 2008-03-15.
  8. ^ Arrington, Michael (2007-11-07). "Just Sell Digg Already, Jay". Techcrunch.com. Retrieved 2009-02-27.
  9. ^ "Google Walks Away From Digg Deal". washingtonpost.com. Retrieved 2009-02-27.
  10. ^ "Digg the Blog » Blog Archive » Big News: Expanding & Growing Digg". Blog.digg.com. 2008-09-24. Retrieved 2009-02-27.
  11. ^ Ante, Spencer E. (2008). "Digg: Not For Sale". Retrieved 2008-12-09. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
  12. ^ "A Wrench in Silicon Valley's Wealth Machine". 2008. Retrieved 2008-12-30. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
  13. ^ Rose, Kevin (May 6, 2009). "Facebook Connect Launches Today!".
  14. ^ Arrington, Michael (May 6, 2009). "Facebook Connect Now Live On Digg". Retrieved May 9 , 2009. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
  15. ^ http://digg.com/dialogg/
  16. ^ Rose, Kevin (April 2, 2009). "DiggBar Launches Today!".
  17. ^ "Digging The Madness of Crowds". Radar.oreilly.com. Retrieved 2009-02-27.
  18. ^ a b c "Why Digg Failed". Kuro5hin.org. 2007-02-14. Retrieved 2009-02-27.
  19. ^ "Digg, scripts and bots". Searchsiren.com. 2008-12-17. Retrieved 2009-02-27.
  20. ^ Sandoval, Greg. "Digg continues to battle phony stories". News.com.com. Retrieved 2009-02-27.
  21. ^ Cory Bergman (2006-07-25). "Paying users for creating content". Lostremote.com. Retrieved 2009-02-27.
  22. ^ Arrington, Michael (2006-03-18). "The Power of Digg". Techcrunch.com. Retrieved 2009-02-27.
  23. ^ a b 1:58 am. "A Brief History of Digg Controversy". Deepjiveinterests.com. Retrieved 2009-02-27.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  24. ^ "'Democratic'? 'User-driven'? These do not describe Digg". Jesusphreak.infogami.com. Retrieved 2009-02-27.
  25. ^ "Is Digg being subverted by some sort of spamming?". Technology.guardian.co.uk. Retrieved 2009-02-27.
  26. ^ webmaster@starttherevolution.org. "Is Digg Closer To Extinction Than We Realise?". Starttherevolution.org. Retrieved 2009-02-27.
  27. ^ "Possible proof that Digg.com is biased against Conservatives - The Opinion Wiki". Opinion.wikia.com. Retrieved 2009-02-27.
  28. ^ Digg. "Does Digg Have a Liberal Bias? Share Your Thoughts". Digg. Retrieved 2009-02-27.
  29. ^ View my My Posts Facebook Twitter LinkedIn (2006-01-10). "Digg and the So-Called "Wisdom of Mobs"". Mashable.com. Retrieved 2009-02-27. {{cite web}}: |author= has generic name (help)
  30. ^ 7:05 pm. "ZDNet Not Immune To The "Bury Brigade"". Deepjiveinterests.com. Retrieved 2009-02-27.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  31. ^ "An Open Letter to Kevin Rose". Techipedia.com. 2007-09-07. Retrieved 2009-02-27.
  32. ^ Posted by randfish on Thu (7/20/06) at 12:35 PM Blogging (2006-07-26). "Top 100 Digg Users Control 56% of Digg's HomePage Content". SEOmoz. Retrieved 2009-02-27.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  33. ^ Cory Bergman (2006-09-06). "Digg to tweak its algorithm". Lostremote.com. Retrieved 2009-02-27.
  34. ^ "Digg Friends". Diggtheblog.blogspot.com. 2006-09-06. Retrieved 2009-02-27.
  35. ^ Sparxoo "Death of the Digg Salesman"
  36. ^ Stone, Brad (2007-05-03). "In Web Uproar, Antipiracy Code Spreads Wildly". The New York Times. Retrieved 2007-07-02. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  37. ^ Jay Adelson. "Digg the Blog: What's Happening with HD-DVD Stories?".
  38. ^ "Cease and desist letters backfire horribly against AACS". TGdaily. 2007-05-01. Retrieved 2009-02-27.
  39. ^ "Digg losing control of their site". Weblog.infoworld.com. Retrieved 2009-02-27.
  40. ^ Sanders, Tom. "DRM lobby tries to get HD DVD genie back into the bottle". Computing.co.uk. Retrieved 2009-02-27.
  41. ^ Marcus Yam. "DailyTech: AACS Key Censorship Leads to First Internet Riot". Retrieved 2007-05-02.
  42. ^ "BBC News: DVD DRM row sparks user rebellion". Retrieved 2007-05-02.
  43. ^ [1] Digg's DRM Revolt
  44. ^ Kevin Rose (2007-05-01). "Digg This: 09 F9 [...]". Digg the Blog. Digg Inc. Retrieved 2007-05-02.
  45. ^ http://daringfireball.net/2009/04/how_to_block_the_diggbar
  46. ^ http://www.mark8t.com/2009/04/12/blocking-diggbar-script
  47. ^ Danny, Sullivan (April 10, 2009). "The Growth Of Framebars & Kevin Rose On The DiggBar".
  48. ^ Topolsky, Joshua (April 10, 2009). "Why Engadget is blocking the DiggBar".
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