Digging for Google and Avoiding the Hate - Basic Digg Etiquette
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Scott Baker, Director of Operations at Digg, isn't just an employee; he has a Digg profile and he's clearly an active user. He doesn't hold the secrets for getting to Digg's front page; according to him, no one does. "It's all in the hands of the users," he insists. But he did have some useful words for Digg newcomers who want to avoid getting buried.
First, make sure that you categorize your piece correctly. In some cases, this can be a minor thing. For example, the tab "Sports" has several sub topics, one of which is "Football - US/Canada." Here's a hint: if you're not from the US or Canada, what goes under that topic is probably not what you think of as football; you want to file your World Cup stories under the "soccer" topic. But sometimes this is a major thing; don't confuse "political opinion" with "political news" unless you want to get buried.
Second, before you post a story on the site, make sure that it hasn't already been posted by someone else. The site has a search function that will help you find duplicates; use it. You might even be surprised to see that someone else has already picked up content that you've created. (By the way, if it's your own content, you're better off if that happens; Chris Lang recommends having someone else submit your blog posts for you rather than submitting them yourself). If your story isn't unique, then find a unique angle. For instance, if you write a science blog and you're reporting on a powerful new type of electron microscope, but someone has already posted that story, you could cover it in your blog and also post a humorous list of eight things they hope to finally see with it (like pick-your-least-favorite-politician's remaining brain cells).
Third, a small caveat on the above that also brings into play the first piece of advice: don't post a link to your own blog and try to pass it off as a news story. If you've primed your readers with your headline and description to expect a news story - such as "Obama Promises Major Science Funding Boost in Inauguration Speech!" -- send them to the original source. If you're writing about it in your blog, you might consider a headline like "Reflections on the First Black US President."
Fourth - and this is a big one - don't try to game the system. Every Digger comes with a finely-tuned bogosity meter, and Digging a story up or down takes a single click. What's more, they can bury a story for any of five different reasons: duplication, spam, wrong topic, inaccuracy, or the classic "OK, This is Lame." Baker noted that "When unscrupulous content owners tried to pay top diggers for diggs, it didn't work because the stories themselves were not of high quality. That's the built-in BS detector of Digg.com."
Next: Digg Finer Points >>
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