A Review of Digg: Model for Social Bookmarking? - Abuse of Power
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The percentages currently state that the top hundred users of Digg influence 56 percent of the postings on the first page, and just 20 people control 20 percent of the front page content. How do they do this? Simply put, friends digg each other's postings, so you begin to notice how many people bash the PS3 and seem to digg only stories touting the Nintendo Wii as the quintessential next generation game console. You also get a lot of Apple adherents and open source fans.
The model seems to be going bad. Bloggers over at http://www.forevergeek.com/ noted that some users dugg in exact sequential order a particular user's posts twice, and then posted a link to the story about it on Digg. Forever Geek's URLs were subsequently banned, although Digg claimed Forever Geek users were inflating diggs artificially, and Kevin Rose actually claimed it was a coincidence. Later Forever Geek's URLs were restored (could posting this article on digg get this URL banned too?). URLs can get banned if enough people complain about the URL or if the site administrator deems it fit. Forever Geek's users have taken to calling these "diggers" who gang up against bad press, and who digg each others stories the "Digg Army."
Digg 4.0
Kevin Rose announced version 4.0 of Digg in order to reduce the power of this "Digg Army," which he is trying hard to disassociate from. In response, the number one user of Digg announced his retirement from the site, citing backstabbing. A small network of users taking control of the web site is rather inevitable, with six million pages served daily and 180 thousand registered users. Any network will grab a large share, since users are alerted when their friends dig stories, and large networks will tend to attract even more people.
Money Talk
Digg is shopping around for between three and six million dollars in second round venture capitalist finance; they are also looking at being acquired for something in the range of $150 million. No one seems to be biting on the acquisition aspect yet, but a second round of financing is very possible, as the same VC companies who financed them the first time are still interested in giving additional financing.
Will Digg become yet another overpriced start up being acquired? The News Corporation seems interested, and some rumors claim Google is sniffing around. Until then, do "digg" some stories, and become happily addicted to getting the best and freshest news on Digg.
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