Revision as of 23:00, 13 December 2006 edit64.25.16.41 (talk) →Comment rating← Previous edit | Latest revision as of 17:17, 19 December 2024 edit undo86.12.18.92 (talk)No edit summary | ||
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{{short description|Social media/news aggregator website}} | |||
{{Infobox Website | |||
{{about|the website|the place in Scotland|Digg, Skye}} | |||
| name = Digg | |||
{{update|date=June 2015}} | |||
| logo = ]<!-- FAIR USE of DiggLogo.gif: see image description page at http://en.wikipedia.org/Image:DiggLogo.gif for rationale --> | |||
{{use mdy dates|date=November 2023}} | |||
| screenshot = ] | |||
{{Infobox website | |||
| caption = Digg main page | |||
| name = Digg, Inc. | |||
| url = http://www.digg.com/ | |||
| logo = ] | |||
| commercial = Yes | |||
| screenshot = | |||
| type = News aggregation site | |||
| caption = | |||
| registration = Free | |||
| company_type = | |||
| owner = digg | |||
| foundation = {{start date and age|2004|11}} | |||
| author = ] | |||
| founder = ]<ref>{{citation|url=http://allthingsd.com/20120530/kevin-roses-next-move-partner-at-google-ventures/|title=Kevin Rose's Next Move: Partner at Google Ventures|access-date=2012-08-02|archive-date=2012-08-05|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120805030628/http://allthingsd.com/20120530/kevin-roses-next-move-partner-at-google-ventures/|url-status=live}}</ref> | |||
| launch date = | |||
| area_served = Worldwide | |||
| current status = | |||
| location_city = ], United States<ref>{{citation|url=http://digg.com/about|title=About|publisher=Digg.com|access-date=2009-02-28|archive-date=2018-11-29|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181129025504/http://digg.com/about|url-status=live}}</ref> | |||
| revenue = | |||
| location_country = | |||
| key_people = Michael O'Connor (CEO) <ref>{{cite web | url=http://accelentinc.com/accelent_news/accelent-fills-ceo-position-digg/ | title=Accelent fills CEO position for Digg | date=5 April 2017 | access-date=2018-01-13 | archive-date=2018-09-21 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180921120602/https://accelentinc.com/accelent_news/accelent-fills-ceo-position-digg/ | url-status=live }}</ref> | |||
| num_employees = 25 (2018)<ref>{{cite web|url=http://digg.com/faq|title=FAQ|publisher=Digg.com|access-date=2020-10-19|archive-date=2020-10-19|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201019003210/https://digg.com/faq|url-status=live}}</ref> | |||
| url = {{url|digg.com}} | |||
| programming_language = ]<ref>{{cite web| url=http://digg.com/jobs| title=Jobs| publisher=Digg.com| access-date=2016-11-23| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181128123547/http://digg.com/jobs| archive-date=2018-11-28| url-status=dead}}</ref> | |||
| registration = Optional | |||
| launch_date = {{Start date and age|2004|12|05}} | |||
| current_status = Active | |||
| language = ] | |||
| advertising = None | |||
| website_type = Social news | |||
| owner = BuySellAds.com, Inc.<ref>{{cite web |title=Digg Inc.: Private Company Information |url=https://www.bloomberg.com/research/stocks/private/snapshot.asp?privcapId=24526784 |website=] |access-date=23 September 2018 |archive-date=23 September 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180923123911/https://www.bloomberg.com/research/stocks/private/snapshot.asp?privcapId=24526784 |url-status=live }}</ref> | |||
| revenue = Unknown | |||
}} | }} | ||
'''Digg''' is a community-based popularity ] with an emphasis on ] and science articles. It combines ], ]ging, and ] with a form of non-hierarchical, ] editorial control. News stories and websites are submitted by users, and then promoted to the front page through a user-based ranking system. This differs from the hierarchical editorial system that many other news sites employ. | |||
'''Digg''' (stylized in lowercase as '''digg''') is an American ] with a curated front page, aiming to select articles specifically for the Internet audience such as science, trending political issues, and ] Internet issues. It was launched in its current form on July 31, 2012, with support for sharing content to other social platforms such as ] and ]. | |||
==Functionality== | |||
Readers can view all of the stories that have been submitted by fellow users in the "digg/All/Upcoming" section of the site. Once a story has received enough "diggs", depending on the calculations performed by Digg's algorithm, it appears on Digg's front page. Should the story not receive enough diggs, or if enough users report a problem with the submission, the story will remain in the "digg all" area, where it may eventually be removed. | |||
Digg was formerly a popular ] ], allowing people to vote user-generated and web content up or down, called ''digging'' and ''burying'', respectively. In 2012, ] estimated Digg's monthly U.S. unique visits at 3.8 million.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.quantcast.com/digg.com |title=digg.com – Quantcast Audience Profile |publisher=Quantcast.com |date=July 16, 2012 |access-date=July 16, 2012 |archive-date=June 24, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120624191824/http://www.quantcast.com/digg.com |url-status=live }}</ref> Digg's popularity prompted the creation of similar sites such as ].<ref>{{cite web |first=Pat |last=McCarthy |url=http://www.conversionrater.com/index.php/2006/09/10/revisiting-top-10-web-predictions-of-2006/ |title=Revisiting Top 10 Web Predictions of 2006 |publisher=Conversionrater.com |date=September 10, 2006 |access-date=February 27, 2009 |archive-date=October 7, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081007082426/http://www.conversionrater.com/index.php/2006/09/10/revisiting-top-10-web-predictions-of-2006 |url-status=live }}</ref> | |||
Articles are short summaries of stories on other websites with links to the stories, and provisions for readers to comment on the story. All content and access to the site is free, but registration is compulsory for certain elements, such as promoting ("digging") stories, submitting stories and commenting on stories. Digg also allows for stories to be posted to a user's ] automatically when he or she diggs a story. As of August 2006, there are more than 500,000 registered Digg users. This represents substantial growth from one year earlier, when in July 2005 membership had just reached 17,000. | |||
In July 2008, the former company took part in advanced acquisition talks with Google for a reported $200 million price tag, but the deal ultimately fell through. After a controversial 2010 redesign and the departure of co-founders ] and ], in July 2012 Digg was sold in three parts: the Digg brand, website, and technology were sold to ] for an estimated $500,000;<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2012/07/the-big-digg-lesson-a-social-network-is-worth-precisely-as-much-as-its-community/259770/|title=The Big Digg Lesson: A Social Network Is Worth Precisely as Much as Its Community|last=Madrigal|first=Alexis C.|work=The Atlantic|access-date=2018-03-21|language=en-US|archive-date=2018-03-22|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180322015203/https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2012/07/the-big-digg-lesson-a-social-network-is-worth-precisely-as-much-as-its-community/259770/|url-status=live}}</ref> 15 staff were transferred to ]{{'}}s "SocialCode" for a reported $12 million; and a suite of ]s was sold to ] for about $4 million.<ref name="Wall Street Journal">{{cite news |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052702304373804577523181002565776 |title=Once a Social Media Star, Digg Sells for $500,000 |work=The Wall Street Journal |date=July 13, 2012 |access-date=July 16, 2012 |first1=Joseph |last1=Walker |first2=Spencer E. |last2=Ante |archive-date=December 15, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141215204009/http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052702304373804577523181002565776 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="Washington Post">{{cite news |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/technology/socialcode-hires-15-employees-from-diggcom/2012/05/10/gIQAP2xBFU_story.html |title=SocialCode hires 15 employees from Digg.com |newspaper=The Washington Post |date=May 10, 2012 |access-date=July 16, 2012 |first1=Hayley |last1=Tsukayama |archive-date=May 19, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120519090842/http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/technology/socialcode-hires-15-employees-from-diggcom/2012/05/10/gIQAP2xBFU_story.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="slashgear">{{cite web |url=http://www.slashgear.com/digg-sale-splits-the-company-three-ways-for-16m-total-13238530/ |title=Digg sale splits the company three ways for $16m total |publisher=Slashgear |date=July 13, 2012 |access-date=July 16, 2012 |first1=Chris |last1=Burns |archive-date=July 15, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120715194903/http://www.slashgear.com/digg-sale-splits-the-company-three-ways-for-16m-total-13238530/ |url-status=live }}</ref> | |||
Originally, stories could be submitted in sixteen different categories which include: '''deals, gaming, links, mods, music, robots, security, technology, Apple, design, hardware, Linux/Unix, movies, programming, science and software'''. A separate category titled ''Digg News'' is reserved for special announcements relating to the site, and can only be used by Digg administrators, but it has fallen out of use in favor of the official Digg Blog. | |||
In April 2018, Digg was purchased by BuySellAds, an advertising company, for an undisclosed amount.<ref>{{cite web |title=The beloved Digg, once the chief rival to Reddit, was just sold to an advertising tech company |url=https://www.businessinsider.com/digg-sells-to-buysellads-an-ad-tech-company-2018-4 |website=Business Insider |access-date=23 September 2018 |date=April 25, 2018 |archive-date=23 September 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180923085609/https://www.businessinsider.com/digg-sells-to-buysellads-an-ad-tech-company-2018-4 |url-status=live }}</ref> | |||
With the release of Digg 3.0 on ], ], the categories became divided into 6 containers: '''Technology, Science, World & Business, Videos, Entertainment, Gaming''', with sub-categories. For instance, the "Technology" container includes the following categories: Apple, Design, Gadgets, Hardware, Tech Industry News, Linux/Unix, Mods, Programming, Security, Software and Tech Deals. On ], ], a Sports container was added. | |||
It is rumoured that ] has purchased Digg back and is relaunching it in 2025. Their Twitter account teases the date March 8, 2025 as "3825" is used in multiple images uploaded in December. <ref>https://x.com/digg/status/1865195680823939540</ref> | |||
==Site features== | |||
===Problem reporting=== | |||
==History== | |||
]To help remove duplicate, spam or offensive story submissions, Digg.com allows users to report such posts. When a story has been reported enough times, depending on the section the story is in, it is automatically removed from the queue and/or buried by the Digg software. | |||
] | |||
Digg started as an experiment in November 2004 by collaborators ], Owen Byrne, Ron Gorodetzky, and ]. The original design by Dan Ries was free of advertisements. To monetize, the company originally used Google ] but switched to ] in 2007.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://about.digg.com/blog/digg-new-ad-provider |title=Digg: New ad provider |date=July 25, 2007 |access-date=July 16, 2012 |first1=Kevin |last1=Rose |archive-date=July 19, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100719115822/http://about.digg.com/blog/digg-new-ad-provider |url-status=live }}</ref> | |||
The site's main function was to let users discover, share and recommend web content. Members of the community could submit a webpage for general consideration. Other members could vote that page up ("digg") or down ("bury"). Although voting took place on digg.com, many websites added "digg" buttons to their pages, allowing users to vote as they browsed the web. The end product was a series of wide-ranging, constantly updated lists of popular and trending content from around the Internet, aggregated by a social network. | |||
Story reporting options include ''duplicate story'', ''spam'', ''wrong topic'', ''inaccurate'', and ''"ok, this is lame."'' | |||
Additions and improvements were made throughout the website's first years. Digg v2 was released in July 2005, with a new interface by web design company silverorange. New features included a friends list, and the ability to "digg" a story without being redirected to a success page. One year later, as part of Digg v3, the website added specific categories for technology, science, world and business, videos, entertainment, and gaming, as well as a "view all" section that merged all categories. Further interface adjustments were made in August 2007. | |||
===Comment rating=== | |||
By 2008, Digg's homepage was attracting over 236 million visitors annually, according to a ] survey.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://siteanalytics.compete.com/digg.com?metric=uv |title=Compete.com |publisher=Siteanalytics.compete.com |access-date=November 7, 2010 |archive-date=January 9, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110109194432/http://siteanalytics.compete.com/digg.com/?metric=uv |url-status=live }}</ref> Digg had grown large enough that it was thought to affect the traffic of submitted web pages. Some pages experienced a sudden increase in traffic shortly after being submitted; some Digg users refer to this as the "]". | |||
] | |||
On ], ], Digg switched to a threaded comment system. The new system allows users to reply to another user's comment, without having to quote someone by copying and pasting, though only two levels deep. | |||
===Redesign=== | |||
Digg users are able to rate other users' comments, which ensures that spam and/or offensive comments stay virtually invisible. User comments are under a 'digg' system much like the stories on the rest of the site. User comments can be 'dugg', making them more visible, or 'buried' making a comment hidden until the user clicks a "show comment" link. Users can also change the comments filter to sort by "most diggs" "show all" "-10 diggs or higher" "-4 diggs or higher" "+0 diggs or higher" "+5 diggs or higher" or "+10 diggs or higher". | |||
CEO Jay Adelson said in 2010 that the site would go through some major changes. In the interview with ] magazine, Adelson said that "Every single THING has changed" and that "the entire website has been rewritten."<ref name="Wired Interview">{{cite news |url=https://www.wired.com/epicenter/2010/03/digg-redesign-social-web/ |title=Wired Interview |publisher=Wired |date=March 15, 2010 |access-date=March 15, 2010 |first1=Michael |last1=Calore |archive-date=March 17, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100317132902/http://www.wired.com/epicenter/2010/03/digg-redesign-social-web/ |url-status=live }}</ref> The company changed from ] to ], a distributed database system; in a blog post, VP Engineering John Quinn said that the move was "bold".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://about.digg.com/node/564 |title=Cassandra Switch |publisher=Digg |access-date=July 16, 2012 |first1=John |last1=Quinn |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120307033743/http://about.digg.com/node/564 |archive-date=March 7, 2012 }}</ref> Adelson summed up the new Digg by saying, "We've got a new backend, a new infrastructure layer, a new services layer, new machines—everything."<ref name="Wired Interview" /> | |||
Adelson stepped down as CEO on April 5, 2010, to explore entrepreneurial opportunities, months before the launch date of Digg v4.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://about.digg.com/blog/update-jay |title=Update from Jay |publisher=Digg |date=April 4, 2010 |access-date=July 16, 2012 |first1=Jay |last1=Adelson |archive-date=September 20, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110920090518/http://about.digg.com/blog/update-jay |url-status=live }}</ref> He had been the company's CEO since its inception. Kevin Rose, another original founder, stepped in temporarily as CEO and Chairman. | |||
===Friends Activity=== | |||
Digg's v4 release on August 25, 2010, was marred by site-wide bugs and glitches. Digg users reacted with hostile verbal opposition. Beyond the release, Digg faced problems due to so-called "power users" who would manipulate the article recommendation features to only support one another's postings, flooding the site with articles only from these users and making it impossible to have genuine content from non-power users appear on the front page.{{Citation needed|date=February 2021}} Frustrations with the system led to dwindling web traffic, exacerbated by heavy competition from Facebook, ]s started to appear on websites next to Digg's.<ref>{{cite news |first=Caroline |last=McCarthy |title=Changing the rules of the Digg game |date=June 21, 2010 |url=http://news.cnet.com/8301-13577_3-20008223-36.html |publisher=CNET News |access-date=July 16, 2012 |archive-date=July 30, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120730054335/http://news.cnet.com/8301-13577_3-20008223-36.html |url-status=live }}</ref> High staff turnover included the departure of head of business development Matt Van Horn, shortly after v4's release.<ref>{{cite news |first=Caroline |last=McCarthy |title=Digg's Matt Van Horn leaving for start-up |date=August 26, 2010 |url=http://news.cnet.com/8301-13577_3-20014852-36.html |publisher=CNET News |access-date=September 2, 2010 |archive-date=August 27, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100827160052/http://news.cnet.com/8301-13577_3-20014852-36.html |url-status=live }}</ref> | |||
]The friends activity box in the left sidebar displays statistics of all Digg friends in the last 48 hours. This includes the number of '''Dugg''' stories, the number of '''Agreed On''' stories (2 or more friends have "dugg it"), the number of '''Dugg Upcoming''' stories, the number of '''Commented On''' stories and finally the number of '''Submitted''' articles. | |||
On September 1, 2010, ] took over as CEO, ending Rose's troubled tenure as interim chief executive. | |||
===Video previews=== | |||
In 2013, Andrew McLaughlin took over as CEO after Digg was sold to BetaWorks and re-launched.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://techcrunch.com/2016/11/23/digg-ceo-gary-liu-joining-scmp/|title=Digg CEO Gary Liu is leaving to head up Alibaba-owned newspaper SCMP – TechCrunch|website=techcrunch.com|date=23 November 2016 |language=en-US|access-date=2018-03-21|archive-date=2018-03-22|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180322015144/https://techcrunch.com/2016/11/23/digg-ceo-gary-liu-joining-scmp/|url-status=live}}</ref> | |||
As of Wednesday the 16th of August 2006, the site generates thumbnail previews of any submissions from ] or ]. These are placed to the right of the article's link. | |||
{{-}} | |||
In 2015, Gary Liu took over as Digg CEO.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://techcrunch.com/2016/11/23/digg-ceo-gary-liu-joining-scmp/|title=Digg CEO Gary Liu is leaving to head up Alibaba-owned newspaper SCMP – TechCrunch|website=techcrunch.com|date=23 November 2016 |language=en-US|access-date=2018-03-26|archive-date=2018-03-22|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180322015144/https://techcrunch.com/2016/11/23/digg-ceo-gary-liu-joining-scmp/|url-status=live}}</ref> | |||
==History== | |||
] | |||
Digg started out as an experiment in November ] by ], ], Ron Gorodetzky, and ] (who serves as CEO), all of whom currently play an active role in the management of the site. | |||
In 2016, Joshua Auerbach took over as interim CEO.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://digg.com/2016/new-year-more-digg|title=We've Got Some Very Digg News To Share|last=Auerbach|first=Joshua|access-date=2018-03-21|language=en|archive-date=2017-06-23|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170623132534/http://digg.com/2016/new-year-more-digg|url-status=live}}</ref> | |||
"We started working on developing the site back in October 2004," Kevin Rose told ] of ]<ref>{{ cite web | url=http://blogs.zdnet.com/web2explorer/index.php?p=108 | title=Interview with Digg founder Kevin Rose, Part 1 | accessdate=2006-07-15 | last=MacManus | first=Richard | date=2006-02-01 | publisher=ZDNet }}</ref> "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 5th 2004." | |||
In September 2016, Digg announced that it would begin a data partnership with ]. The "seven figure" investment would give Gannett access to real-time trend analysis of Digg's 7.5 million pieces of content.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Alpert|first1=Lukas I.|title=Gannett Leads Investment Round in Social Media Pioneer Digg|url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/gannett-leads-investment-round-in-social-media-pioneer-digg-1473778803|website=The Wall Street Journal|access-date=11 October 2016|date=13 September 2016|archive-date=10 October 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161010235442/http://www.wsj.com/articles/gannett-leads-investment-round-in-social-media-pioneer-digg-1473778803|url-status=live}}</ref> | |||
Although the ] of Digg is registered under the name Jerimiah Udy, he is not one of the original founders of Digg, but rather a friend of Kevin Rose's. The domain name was registered under Jerimiah's name because Rose did not want others to know that he was associated with Digg. He wanted Digg to stand on its own and not become a ] for all things he personally stood for. | |||
In 2017, Michael O'Connor took over as CEO, and continues as CEO today. | |||
Kevin Rose's friend ] (], ]) originally wanted to call the site “Diggnation”, but Kevin 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” was previously registered by the ]. | |||
=== Sale and relaunch=== | |||
“]” would eventually be used as the title of Kevin Rose and ]'s weekly podcast. | |||
In July 2012, Digg was sold in three parts: | |||
# the Digg brand, website, and technology were sold to Betaworks for $500,000;<ref name="Wall Street Journal" /> | |||
The original design was free of advertisements, and was designed by Dan Ries. But as Digg became more popular, Google ] was added to generate revenue. The site was updated in July 2005, to "Version 2.0". The new Digg featured a friends list, the ability to "digg" a story without being redirected to a "success" page, and a new interface designed by ]<ref>{{ cite web | url=http://www.deltatangobravo.com/archives/2005/july/diggdesign | title=Digg Design | accessdate=2006-07-15 | last=Burkadate | first=Daniel | date=2005-07-29 | publisher=Delta Tango Bravo }}</ref>, of the web design company ''silverorange''. After the redesign, some users complained about the lack of the simplistic, minimalist layout used in the original version of Digg. The site developers have stated that in future versions a more minimalist design will likely be employed. On Monday June 26, 2006 V3 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. A Sports category was added about a month later. | |||
# 15 staff were transferred to '']''{{'}}s ] project for $12 million;<ref name="Washington Post" /> | |||
# the patent portfolio was sold to ] for approximately $4 million.<ref name="slashgear"/> | |||
There were reports that Digg had been trying to sell itself to a larger company since 2006.<ref>{{cite news |last=Arrington |first=Michael |url=https://techcrunch.com/2007/11/07/just-sell-digg-already-jay/ |title=Just Sell Digg Already, Jay |publisher=Techcrunch.com |date=November 7, 2007 |access-date=February 27, 2009 |archive-date=March 2, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090302205611/http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/11/07/just-sell-digg-already-jay/ |url-status=live }}</ref> The most notable attempt took place in July 2008, when Google entered talks to buy Digg for around $200 million. Google walked away from negotiations during the deal's ] phase, informing Digg on July 25 that it was no longer interested in the purchase.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/07/26/AR2008072601421.html |title=Google Walks Away From Digg Deal |work=washingtonpost.com |access-date=February 27, 2009 |first=Michael |last=Arrington |date=July 26, 2008 |archive-date=October 10, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121010112405/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/07/26/AR2008072601421.html |url-status=live }}</ref> Digg subsequently accepted further venture capital funding, receiving $28.7 million in September 2008 from investors such as ]<ref>{{cite web |url=http://techland.blogs.fortune.cnn.com/2008/09/24/digg-digs-up-287-million/ |title=Digg digs up $28.7 Million |publisher=CNNMoney |date=November 24, 2008 |access-date=March 15, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110708170943/http://techland.blogs.fortune.cnn.com/2008/09/24/digg-digs-up-287-million/ |archive-date=July 8, 2011 |url-status=dead }}</ref> to move headquarters and add staff.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://blog.digg.com/?p=256 |title=Big News: Expanding & Growing Digg |publisher=blog.digg.com |date=September 24, 2008 |access-date=February 27, 2009 |archive-date=March 15, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090315001819/http://blog.digg.com/?p=256 |url-status=live }}</ref> Several months later, CEO Jay Adelson said Digg was no longer for sale.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/dec2008/tc2008121_004686.htm |title=Digg: Not For Sale |access-date=December 9, 2008 |last=Ante |first=Spencer E. |date=December 2008 |archive-date=December 12, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081212135717/http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/dec2008/tc2008121_004686.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref> | |||
Digg has grown large enough that submissions sometimes create a sudden swarm of traffic to the "dugg" website. This is referred to by some Digg users as the "]" and by some others as the site being "dugg to death" or "digg-pwned." However, in many cases stories are linked on many of the popular bookmarking sites at the same time. For example, a story may be linked simultaneously at ], ].net, and ].org. In such cases, the impact of the "digg effect" is difficult to assess. | |||
On July 20, 2012, new owners ] announced via ] that they were rebuilding Digg from scratch, "turning back into a start-up".<ref name="Rethink Digg Twitter Announcement">{{cite web |url=https://twitter.com/digg/status/226356830966784001 |title=Rethink Digg Twitter Announcement |access-date=July 20, 2012 |date=July 2012 |archive-date=April 9, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160409160111/https://twitter.com/digg/status/226356830966784001 |url-status=live }}</ref> Betaworks gave the project a six-week deadline. Surveys of existing users, collected through the website ReThinkDigg.com,<ref name="Rethink Digg">{{cite web |url=http://rethinkdigg.com/ |title=Rethink Digg |access-date=July 20, 2012 |archive-date=July 21, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120721031358/http://rethinkdigg.com/ |url-status=live }}</ref> were used to inform the development of a new user interface and user experience.<ref name="The New Digg">{{cite web |url=http://silicon-news.com/news/2012/07/20/the-new-rethink-digg-review/ |title=The New Digg |access-date=July 20, 2012 <!-- |first=Chris --> |date=July 2012 |archive-date=February 2, 2013 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130202194656/http://silicon-news.com/news/2012/07/20/the-new-rethink-digg-review/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="Murphey 2012">{{cite web |url=http://mashable.com/2012/07/20/digg-rebuild/ |title=Rebuilding Digg |access-date=July 20, 2012 |last=Murphey |first=Samantha |website=] |date=July 2012 |archive-date=July 21, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120721053513/http://mashable.com/2012/07/20/digg-rebuild/ |url-status=live }}</ref> | |||
=== Timeline === | |||
The "rethought" Digg reset its version number and launched as ''Digg v1'' a day prior to the Betaworks project deadline, on July 31, 2012. It featured an editorially driven front page, more images, and top, popular and upcoming stories. Users could access a new scoring system. There was increased support for sharing content to other social platforms such as ] and ]. Digg's front page content was selected by editors, instead of users on other communities like ]. | |||
* '''2004 - December:''' Digg.com launches. | |||
* '''2005 - July:''' Digg launches a new design with version 2.0. | |||
* '''2005 - October:''' Digg receives ]2.8 million from venture capital groups and investors to support its continued growth.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://web.archive.org/web/20060212043207/http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/business/financial_markets/venture_capital/13019053.htm|title=Venture Capital for Digg|publisher=]|date=2005-10-28|author=Matt Marshall}}</ref> | |||
* '''2005 - November:''' Digg.com surpasses the 100,000 registered users mark.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://blog.digg.com/?p=13|publisher=Digg: The Blog|title=December Updates|date=2005-12-3}}</ref> | |||
* '''2005 - December:''' ''Digg Spy'' updated and enhanced to ''Digg Spy v2'' with new features including a live and dynamic behind-the-scenes peek into story submissions, diggings, comment submissions and the like. The right-hand navigation bar also received a new look.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://blog.digg.com/?p=14|publisher=Digg, The Blog|title=Digg Spy 2.0 Released|date=2005-12-21|author=Kevin Rose}}</ref> | |||
* '''2006 - February:''' Digg is listed on ]<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.alexa.com/data/details/traffic_details?q=&url=www.digg.com|title=Traffic Rankings for Digg.com|publisher=]|accessdate=2006-12-07}}</ref> as one of the most visited 500 websites on the Internet. | |||
* '''2006 - March:''' The Digg Team releases new, threaded comment system to digg users.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://blog.digg.com/?p=23|title=New Digg Comment System Released!|publisher=Digg, The Blog|author=Kevin Rose|date=2006-03-01}}</ref> | |||
* '''2006 - March:''' Digg surpasses 200,000 registered users. | |||
* '''2006 - April:''' Digg surpasses Slashdot (According to Alexa) and enters top 100 sites of the internet on Alexa's rankings | |||
* '''2006 - June:''' Shortly before the Digg 3.0 upgrade, founders ] and ] reported that Digg had received 8.5 million unique visitors in May and was routinely seeing 3,000+ new story submissions daily. | |||
* '''2006 - 26 June:''' Digg goes down for 3.0 upgrade at 12:14 UTC. The upgrade was completed at 13:05 UTC. <ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.digg.com/tech_news/New_Digg_v3_Launched|publisher=Digg|title=New Digg v3 Launched|date=2006-06-26}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://blog.digg.com/?p=30|title=Digg v3 Status|publisher=Digg, The Blog|author=Kevin Rose|date=2006-06-26}}</ref> | |||
* '''2006 - 25 July:''' Digg launches ''Digg Labs''. <ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.digg.com/tech_news/Digg_Labs_Launches|title=Digg Labs Launches!|publisher=Digg|date=2006-07-25}}</ref> | |||
* '''2006 - August:''' Digg surpasses the 500,000 registered users mark.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://blog.digg.com/?p=40|title=Great news for digg!|publisher=Digg, The Blog|author=Kevin Rose|date=2006-08-31}}</ref> | |||
* '''2006 - September:''' Digg launches ''Digg Tools''. | |||
* '''2006 - 06 December:''' Digg hits 1,000,000 story submissions. <ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.digg.com/tech_news/Digg_Hits_One_Million_Story_Submissions|title=Digg Hits One Million Story Submissions!|publisher=Digg|date=2006-12-06}}</ref> | |||
* '''2006 - 07 December:''' Digg turns two years old. <ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.digg.com/tech_news/Two_Years_of_Digging|title=Two Years of Digging!|publisher=Digg|author=Kevin Rose|date=2006-12-07}}</ref> | |||
Until its sale to BuySellAds.com in 2018, its offices were located at 50 Eldridge Street in New York City's Chinatown. | |||
<!-- If there's a beginning to this paragraph that was lost somewhere, it needs to be recovered from history. --><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.alexaholic.com/digg.com+fark.com+slashdot.org+techcrunch.com|title=Website traffic graphs comparing digg.com, fark.com, slashdot.org and techcrunch.com|publisher=Alexaholic}}</ref> Google searches for "digg," "slashdot," and "]" appear to roughly coincide with Alexa's rankings.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.google.com/trends?q=digg%2C+slashdot%2C+fark&ctab=1&geo=all&date=all|title=Google Trends: digg, slashdot, fark|publisher=Google}}</ref> | |||
==Features== | |||
== Online vigilantism == | |||
=== Digg Reader === | |||
Digg is often used to spur other internet users into ], which has resulted in action both on and offline. In several cases members have, presumably in acts of ], flooded internet websites and businesses with ] attacks in response to stories posted by single users. Examples of this include: | |||
{{Main|Digg Reader}} | |||
* When one user posted a story about the business practices of an online camera store, some Digg users responded by placing simultaneous phone calls to the store and ] its website, impairing the company's ability to function.<ref>http://thomashawk.com/2005/11/priceritephoto-abusive-bait-and-switch.html</ref> Many users encouraged this activity and some posted comments instructing others how to participate in such an attack. | |||
In response to the announced shutdown of ], Digg announced on March 14, 2013 that it was working on its own ].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.theverge.com/2013/3/14/4104618/digg-will-build-its-own-version-of-google-reader |title=Digg Reader is Live! |publisher=Digg.com |date=2013-03-14 |access-date=June 28, 2013 |archive-date=2013-07-03 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130703063728/http://www.theverge.com/2013/3/14/4104618/digg-will-build-its-own-version-of-google-reader |url-status=live }}</ref> Digg Reader launched on June 28, 2013 as a web and iOS application. An Android app was released on August 29, 2013. Digg announced that it would shut down Digg Reader on March 26, 2018.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://digg.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/360000678608 |title=Goodbye to Digg Reader |access-date=2018-03-14 |archive-date=2018-03-14 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180314210133/https://digg.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/360000678608 |url-status=live }}</ref> | |||
* Digg users reacted when copycat site ] launched in late ]. A battle between the users of both sites ensued, resulting in both sites adding each other to their respective banned URL submission filters. | |||
* Digg was seen as an important generator of traffic and interest in the website Stolensidekick.com, which described how a girl had stolen a ] ] and refused to return it. After the post on Digg, the girl was identified. Consequently, she was harassed on her ] page and in real life. <ref>{{cite news | |||
| last = Confessore | |||
| first = Nicholas | |||
| title = Tale of a Lost Cellphone, and Untold Static | |||
| publisher = New York Times | |||
| date = ] | |||
| url = http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/21/nyregion/21sidekick.html?ex=1308542400&en=d381fb5a2c0c21ce&ei=5090&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss | |||
| accessdate = 2006-08-12 }}</ref> | |||
*On April 15, ] a company trading as ] was allegedly ] attacked by Digg users after it was revealed that the company was selling cheap computers at high-end prices to unsuspecting low-income neighborhoods. CBS Marketwatch referred to the company and its products as "Stupid Investment of the Week"<ref>{{cite news | |||
| last = Jaffe | |||
| first = Chuck | |||
| title = High interest doesn't compute | |||
| publisher = MarketWatch Inc. | |||
| date = ] | |||
| url = http://www.marketwatch.com/News/Story/Story.aspx?guid=%7B9C307C57%2DCB57%2D4C1A%2DB232%2D62D457809F5E%7D&dist=¶m=archive&siteid=mktw&garden=&minisite= | |||
| language = english }}</ref>. | |||
* When ] redesigned its ] site to a style similar to that of digg, a digg user used a flaw in the site's coding to put a pro-Digg pop-up message on the site and redirected the visitor to the digg homepage <ref>http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1895,1994584,00.asp</ref> | |||
== Issues relating to former Digg website == | |||
== Criticism == | |||
<!-- this section is largely obsolete and should be re-written and condensed or maybe just deleted --> | |||
] | |||
=== Organized promotion and censorship by users === | |||
Many have expressed concern over Digg's growing influence as a news source. The site's reliance on users to submit stories and moderate their prominence has been criticized for spotlighting false, misleading and poorly-written information.<ref>http://radar.oreilly.com/archives/2006/01/digging_the_madness_of_crowds.html</ref> Some issues have been significantly publicized: | |||
{{Main|Digg Patriots}} | |||
It was possible for users to have disproportionate influence on Digg, either by themselves or in teams. These users were sometimes motivated to promote or bury pages for political or financial reasons. | |||
Serious attempts by users to game the site began in 2006.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.forevergeek.com/2006/04/digg_corrupted_editors_playground_not_userdriven_website/ |title=Digg Corrupted: Editor's Playground, not User-Driven Website |author=Dave |date=April 20, 2006 |publisher=Forevergeek |access-date=August 4, 2010 |archive-date=July 21, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100721174600/http://www.forevergeek.com/2006/04/digg_corrupted_editors_playground_not_userdriven_website/ |url-status=live }}</ref> A top user was banned after agreeing to promote a story for cash to an undercover Digg sting operation.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://news.cnet.com/Digg-continues-to-battle-phony-stories/2100-1025_3-6144652.html |title=Digg continues to battle phony stories |first1=Greg |last1=Sandoval |date=December 18, 2006 |publisher=CNET News |access-date=August 4, 2010 |archive-date=May 10, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110510073035/http://news.cnet.com/Digg-continues-to-battle-phony-stories/2100-1025_3-6144652.html |url-status=live }}</ref> Another group of users openly formed a 'Bury Brigade' to remove "spam" articles about US politician ]; critics accused the group of attempting to stifle any mention of Ron Paul on Digg.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://message2paulspammers.blogspot.com/2007/12/diggs-ron-paul-bury-brigade-exposed.html |title=Digg's Ron Paul 'Bury Brigade' exposed |author=Adam |date=December 23, 2007 |access-date=August 4, 2010 |archive-date=May 14, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110514082915/http://message2paulspammers.blogspot.com/2007/12/diggs-ron-paul-bury-brigade-exposed.html |url-status=live }}</ref> | |||
* Unverified and inaccurate information can earn a large number of "diggs" simply by interested readers, and potentially have a negative effect on parties involved. In one high-profile example, a front-page story suggested that ] publisher ] wanted people to ] one of their recent-releases, '']''.<ref>http://digg.com/gaming/Company_WANTS_its_game_pirated_</ref> This forced Stardock to publish a rebuttal on their website, which resulted in a user-submitted correction appearing on the digg homepage within hours; the correction, however, featured a typo in its headline that mistakenly cited the game's title as its publisher's name.<ref>http://digg.com/gaming/Galactic_Civililizations_does_NOT_want_people_to_pirate_their_game_</ref> | |||
Digg hired computer scientist Anton Kast to develop a diversity algorithm that would prevent special interest groups from dominating Digg. During a ], Digg executives responded to criticism by removing some features that gave superusers extra weight, but declined to make "buries" transparent.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://bloggingexperiment.com/archives/diggs-20-questions-a-town-hall-recap.php |title=Digg's 20 Questions: a Town Hall Recap |author=Ben |date=February 26, 2008 |publisher=Bloggingexperiment |access-date=August 4, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101123110643/http://bloggingexperiment.com/archives/diggs-20-questions-a-town-hall-recap.php |archive-date=November 23, 2010 |url-status=dead }}</ref> | |||
However, users are able to label the submission "inaccurate" if they feel the information presented is not correct. Once a certain number of users agree on its inaccuracy, "" automatically appears in the description of the story, and "Warning: The Content in this Article May be Inaccurate. Readers have reported that this story contains information that may not be accurate" appears on the story's Digg page. | |||
However, later that year ] increased its page rank for Digg. Shortly afterwards, many 'pay for Diggs' startups were created to profit from the opportunity. According to ], one top user charged $700 per story, with a $500 bonus if the story reached the front page.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://techcrunch.com/2008/09/03/want-on-the-digg-home-page-thatll-be-1300/ |title=Want On The Digg Home Page? That'll Be $1,200. |first1=Michael |last1=Arrington |date=September 3, 2008 |publisher=Techcruch |access-date=August 4, 2010 |archive-date=July 22, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100722001039/http://techcrunch.com/2008/09/03/want-on-the-digg-home-page-thatll-be-1300/ |url-status=live }}</ref> | |||
* Users who succeed in frontpaging several stories may become known by the community and garner Diggs almost automatically from followers (such as those who have befriended them), accuracy and quality aside. As an example of this, in ] ], it was reported that the top 100 Digg users controlled 56% of Digg's frontpage content, and that a niche group of just twenty individuals monopolized 20% of the frontpage content.<ref>http://www.seomoz.org/blogdetail.php?ID=1228</ref> | |||
] was a conservative ] mailing list, with an associated page on coRank, accused of coordinated, politically motivated behavior on Digg. Progressive blogger Ole Ole Olson wrote in August 2010 that Digg Patriots undertook a year-long effort of organized burying of seemingly liberal articles from Digg's Upcoming module. He also accused leading members of vexatiously reporting liberal users for banning (and those who seemed liberal), and creating "sleeper" accounts in the event of administrators banning their accounts. These and other actions would violate Digg's terms of usage.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://blogs.alternet.org/oleoleolson/2010/08/05/massive-censorship-of-digg-uncovered |title=Massive Censorship of Digg Uncovered « OOO |access-date=2010-08-07 |url-status=bot: unknown |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130508085136/http://blogs.alternet.org/oleoleolson/2010/08/05/massive-censorship-of-digg-uncovered |archive-date=May 8, 2013 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url = http://pubrecord.org/special-to-the-public-record/8121/rigging-of-digg-covert-mob-conservatives/ |title = The Rigging Of Digg: How A Covert Mob Of Conservatives Hijacked The Web's Top Social News Site |first = Ole Ole |last = Olson |publisher = The Public Record |date = August 5, 2010 |access-date = August 7, 2010 |archive-date = August 26, 2021 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20210826103101/https://www.pubrecord.org/ |url-status = live }}</ref> Olson's post was immediately followed by the disbanding and closure of the DiggPatriots list, and an investigation into the matter by Digg.<ref>{{cite news |url = https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2010/aug/06/digg-investigates-claims-conservative-censorship |title = Digg investigates claims of conservative 'censorship' |first1 = Josh |last1 = Halliday |date = August 6, 2010 |work = The Guardian |access-date = December 17, 2016 |archive-date = November 15, 2016 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20161115235612/https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2010/aug/06/digg-investigates-claims-conservative-censorship |url-status = live }}</ref> | |||
* Users and specific URLs can be blacklisted based on user complaints or site administrator's request, which has led to legitimate sites and contributors to being banned from participation.<ref>http://technology.guardian.co.uk/weekly/story/0,,1761697,00.html</ref><ref>http://www.sitepoint.com/blogs/2006/04/05/digg-anti-social-software/</ref> | |||
=== AACS encryption key controversy === | |||
* Even though Digg is depicted as a user-driven website with non-hierarchical editorial control, there have been recent complaints of intervention by editors to promote certain stories, bypassing the choice of users. The same editors are accused of hiding these facts by censoring stories which mention them and by banning users who have posted them. Founder Kevin Rose responded by blaming the promotion on users rather than staff. An ] by tech blog ]<ref>http://forevergeek.com/news/digg_corrupted_editors_playground_not_userdriven_website.php</ref> uncovered what it felt was obvious intervention by editors to promote or bury certain stories, bypassing the choice of users.<ref>http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=06/04/20/1538256</ref> It also implicated Kevin Rose himself for digging the same exact stories in the same exact order as the users, and therefore being complicit in the promotion. A statistical analysis<ref>http://www.zippitydoodahonline.com/?p=10</ref> of the diggs showed that an average of 7-8 of the users dugg each others stories within the first 24 diggs per story that made the front page, and Kevin Rose dugg 28% of these stories within the first 24 diggs. The accusations were addressed extensively by Rose in an appearance on ].<ref>http://twit.tv/twit51</ref> On that podcast, as well as on the official Digg blog, he stated that the charges stemmed from a coincidence (two stories that Rose was found to have been the 17th person to "digg"<ref>http://www.webpronews.com/topnews/topnews/wpn-60-20060420RoseSpeaksOutOnDiggFraud.html</ref>), and that the whole snafu arose after ForeverGeek users were banned for artificially inflating the digg counts of their stories. | |||
<!-- | |||
Please DO NOT insert the publicly disclosed HD-DVD key into this article for the time being. | |||
* The commenting system is often seen as highly biased {{weasel-inline}} since posts that receive enough negative "diggs" from fellow readers are hidden away. This has often resulted in comments that are either critical or go against the prevailing opinion at the site to be blocked from normal view even if they are not considered to be offensive or poorly written. However, these comments can be shown by clicking a "Show Comment" button or changing the filter to include or hide comments based on a number of "diggs" that you choose. It has been suggested that any bias that does exist is due to a fundamentally flawed design in Diggs comment moderation system <ref>http://www.jessecurry.net/blog/2006/12/12/why-is-digg-filled-with-so-many-assholes/</ref> | |||
Before editing this article or commenting on this article's talk page please read the | |||
==See also== | |||
*] | |||
*] | |||
*] | |||
*] | |||
*] | |||
*] | |||
Electronic Frontier Foundation's legal primer on this issue: | |||
== References == | |||
* https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/archives/005229.php | |||
{{reflist}} | |||
The general consensus currently held by administrators: | |||
==External links== | |||
* ] | |||
<!-- The primary focus of this section is to list any links that further describes Digg and its features. Please do not use this section to post news about Digg or to promote any fansites, they will be quickly removed if done. --> | |||
* | |||
Thanks, ] (Misplaced Pages Administrator) (with amendments from ]). | |||
* | |||
* - the founder of Digg | |||
--> | |||
* - provides more information on the Digg stories and also List of Buried stories | |||
{{Main|AACS encryption key controversy}} | |||
* - Kevin Rose talks about Digg.com at a Carson Workshop (41min) | |||
{{Wikinews|Digg.com suffers user revolt; Founder will not fight}} | |||
On May 1, 2007, an article appeared on Digg's homepage that contained the ] for the ] ] protection of ] and ]. 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 ] and an assault on free speech.<ref>{{cite news | last = Stone | first = Brad | title = In Web Uproar, Antipiracy Code Spreads Wildly | work = ] | date = 2007-05-03 | url = https://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/03/technology/03code.html | access-date = 2007-07-02 | archive-date = 2008-12-11 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20081211105021/http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/03/technology/03code.html | url-status = live }}</ref> A statement by ] attributed the article's take-down to an attempt to comply with ] letters from the ] consortium and cited Digg's ] as justification for taking down the article.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://blog.digg.com/?p=73|title=Digg the Blog: What's Happening with HD-DVD Stories?|first=Jay|last=Adelson|access-date=2007-05-02|archive-date=2012-10-17|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121017103512/http://blog.digg.com/?p=73|url-status=live}}</ref> Although some users defended Digg's actions,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.tgdaily.com/content/view/31859/97/ |title=Cease and desist letters backfire horribly against AACS |publisher=TGdaily |date=2007-05-01 |access-date=2009-02-27 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070504015619/http://www.tgdaily.com/content/view/31859/97/ |archive-date=2007-05-04 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://weblog.infoworld.com/railsback/archives/2007/05/digg_losing_con.html |title=Digg losing control of their site |publisher=Weblog.infoworld.com |access-date=2009-02-27 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081222071122/http://weblog.infoworld.com/railsback/archives/2007/05/digg_losing_con.html |archive-date=2008-12-22 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last=Sanders |first=Tom |url=http://www.computing.co.uk/vnunet/news/2188970/drm-lobby-tries-hd-dvd-genie |title=DRM lobby tries to get HD DVD genie back into the bottle |publisher=Computing.co.uk |access-date=2009-02-27 |archive-date=2009-02-19 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090219193526/http://www.computing.co.uk/vnunet/news/2188970/drm-lobby-tries-hd-dvd-genie |url-status=live }}</ref> as a whole the community staged a widespread revolt with numerous articles and comments made using the encryption key.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.dailytech.com/article.aspx?newsid=7129|title=DailyTech: AACS Key Censorship Leads to First Internet Riot|first=Marcus|last=Yam|access-date=2007-05-02|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070504012441/http://www.dailytech.com/article.aspx?newsid=7129|archive-date=2007-05-04|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/6615047.stm|title=BBC News: DVD DRM row sparks user rebellion|access-date=2007-05-02|date=2007-05-02|archive-date=2007-05-16|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070516215800/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/6615047.stm|url-status=live}}</ref> The scope of the user response was so great that one of the Digg users referred to it as a "digital ]".<ref>, Digg's DRM Revolt</ref> 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."<ref>{{cite web | url =http://blog.digg.com/?p=74 | title =Digg This: 09 F9 <nowiki></nowiki> | access-date =2007-05-02 | first =Kevin | last =Rose | author-link =Kevin Rose | date =2007-05-01 | work =Digg the Blog | publisher =Digg Inc | archive-date =2019-04-22 | archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20190422090815/https://blog.digg.com/?p=74 | url-status =live }}</ref> | |||
=== Digg v4 === | |||
Digg's version 4 release was initially unstable. The site was unreachable or unstable for weeks after its launch on August 25, 2010. Many users, upon finally reaching the site, complained about the new design and the removal of many features (such as bury, favorites, friends submissions, upcoming pages, subcategories, videos and history search).<ref>{{cite web |url=http://gigaom.com/2010/08/26/digg-redesign-met-with-a-thumbs-down/ |title=Digg Redesign Met with a Thumbs Down |first1=Mathew |last1=Ingram |date=August 26, 2010 |access-date=August 29, 2010 |archive-date=August 28, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100828214002/http://gigaom.com/2010/08/26/digg-redesign-met-with-a-thumbs-down/ |url-status=live }}</ref> Kevin Rose replied to complaints on his blog, promising to fix the algorithm and restore some features.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://kevinrose.com/blogg/2010/8/27/digg-v4-release-iterate-repeat.html |title=Digg v4: release, iterate, repeat. |first1=Kevin |last1=Rose |date=August 27, 2010 |access-date=August 27, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100829120320/http://kevinrose.com/blogg/2010/8/27/digg-v4-release-iterate-repeat.html |archive-date=August 29, 2010 |url-status=dead }}</ref> | |||
], founder of rival site ], said in an open letter to Rose: | |||
{{Quote|this new version of digg reeks of ] meddling. It's cobbling together features from more popular sites and departing from the core of digg, which was to "give the power back to the people."<ref>{{cite web |url=http://alexisohanian.com/an-open-letter-to-kevin-rose |title=An open letter to Kevin Rose |first1=Alexis |last1=Ohanian |date=May 28, 2010 |access-date=August 29, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100601092755/http://alexisohanian.com/an-open-letter-to-kevin-rose |archive-date=June 1, 2010 |url-status=dead }}</ref>}} | |||
Disgruntled users declared a "quit Digg day" on August 30, 2010, and used Digg's own auto-submit feature to fill the front page with content from Reddit.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/digg_user_rebellion_reddit_on_front_page.php |title=Digg User Rebellion Continues: Reddit Now Rules the Front Page |publisher=ReadWriteWeb |first1=Frederic |last1=Lardinois |access-date=August 31, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100831122556/http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/digg_user_rebellion_reddit_on_front_page.php |archive-date=August 31, 2010 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine |url=https://newsfeed.time.com/2010/08/30/digg-users-lash-out-at-new-format-join-forces-with-reddit/ |title=Digg Users Lash Out At New Format, Join Forces with Reddit |magazine=] |access-date=August 31, 2010 |date=August 30, 2010 |first1=Megan |last1=Friedman |archive-date=August 30, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100830191918/http://newsfeed.time.com/2010/08/30/digg-users-lash-out-at-new-format-join-forces-with-reddit/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://news.cnet.com/8301-13577_3-20015042-36.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-20 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120713183757/http://news.cnet.com/8301-13577_3-20015042-36.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-20 |url-status=dead |archive-date=July 13, 2012 |title=Angry Digg users flood home page with Reddit links |publisher=CNet News |first1=Caroline |last1=McCarthy |access-date=August 31, 2010 }}</ref> Reddit also temporarily added the Digg shovel to their logo to welcome fleeing Digg users.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/08/30/reddit-digg-rivalry-heats_n_699225.html |title=Angry Users SLAM Digg With Links From Rival Reddit |work=The Huffington Post |access-date=August 31, 2010 |first=Craig |last=Kanalley |date=August 30, 2010 |archive-date=September 1, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100901170530/http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/08/30/reddit-digg-rivalry-heats_n_699225.html |url-status=live }}</ref> | |||
Digg's traffic dropped significantly after the launch of version 4,<ref>{{cite web |url=https://thenextweb.com/socialmedia/2010/09/23/diggs-traffic-is-collapsing-at-home-and-abroad/ |title=Digg's traffic is collapsing at home and abroad |publisher=The Next Web |access-date=October 20, 2010 |first1=Alex |last1=Wilhelm |date=23 September 2010 |archive-date=September 27, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100927170006/http://thenextweb.com/socialmedia/2010/09/23/diggs-traffic-is-collapsing-at-home-and-abroad/ |url-status=live }}</ref> and publishers reported a drop in direct referrals from stories on Digg's front page.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://socialkeith.com/the-digg-effect-v4/ |title=The Digg Effect v4 |publisher=Social Keith |access-date=October 20, 2010 |first1=Keith |last1=Plocek |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101022060115/http://socialkeith.com/the-digg-effect-v4/ |archive-date=October 22, 2010 |url-status=dead }}</ref> New CEO Matt Williams attempted to address some of the users' concerns in a blog post on October 12, 2010, promising to reinstate many of the features that had been removed. | |||
== Timeline == | |||
{{update section|date=March 2020}} | |||
{| class="wikitable" | |||
|+Timeline of Digg history | |||
! Date !! Event | |||
|- | |||
|October 2004 || Development on digg.com begins<ref>{{cite web | url =https://www.zdnet.com/article/interview-with-digg-founder-kevin-rose-part-1/ | title =Interview with Digg founder Kevin Rose | access-date =2010-08-02 | first =Richard | last =MacManus | date =2006-02-01 | work =Web 2.0 Explorer | publisher =ZDNet | archive-date =2010-08-08 | archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20100808221754/http://www.zdnet.com/blog/web2explorer/interview-with-digg-founder-kevin-rose-part-1/108 | url-status =live }}</ref> | |||
|- | |||
|December 1, 2004 || Kevin Rose creates the first profile | |||
|- | |||
|December 3, 2004 || The first story is submitted to Digg<ref>{{cite web | url =http://services.digg.com/story/001?appkey=http://wikipedia.com/ | title =API query for story #01 | access-date =2010-08-02 | work =API | publisher =Digg }}{{Dead link|date=July 2019 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> | |||
|- | |||
|December 5, 2004 || Digg is open to public | |||
|- | |||
|December 13, 2004 || Kevin Rose shows off Digg on '']''<ref>{{cite web | url =https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W1_YoG7lqI4 | title =Kevin Rose shows off Digg on The Screen Savers | access-date =2010-08-02 | work =The Screen Savers | publisher =TechTV | archive-date =2021-08-26 | archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20210826103058/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W1_YoG7lqI4 | url-status =live }}</ref> | |||
|- | |||
|January 2, 2005 || Comment section introduced for stories | |||
|- | |||
|February 28, 2005 || Digg 1.6: duplicate story detection | |||
|- | |||
|March 19, 2005 || Profile page now includes comment histories and sort by category | |||
|- | |||
|May 9, 2005 || Digg spy is released | |||
|- | |||
|May 27, 2005 || Digg 2.0 is released. Friends feature, ajax buttons for Digg/bury, and a non-linear promotion algorithm are implemented. | |||
|- | |||
|July 2, 2005 || Diggnation podcast begins with Alex and Kevin<ref>{{cite web | url =http://revision3.com/diggnation/2005-07-01 | title =Digg Podcast #001 Released | access-date =2010-08-02 | work =Diggnation | publisher =Revision3 | archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20100726050927/http://revision3.com/diggnation/2005-07-01 | archive-date =2010-07-26 | url-status =dead }}</ref> | |||
|- | |||
|October 2005 || Raises $2.8 million in venture capital | |||
|- | |||
|December 2005 || Digg Spy 2.0 released | |||
|- | |||
|December 2005 || KoolAidGuy saga results in anti-spam tools being introduced<ref>{{cite web | url =https://www.zdnet.com/article/gaming-digg-the-koolaidguy-saga/ | title =Gaming Digg: the KoolAidGuy saga | access-date =2010-08-02 | first =Richard | last =MacManus | date =2005-12-27 | work =Web 2.0 Explorer | publisher =ZDNet | archive-date =2010-07-17 | archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20100717141843/http://www.zdnet.com/blog/web2explorer/gaming-digg-the-koolaidguy-saga/90 | url-status =live }}</ref> | |||
|- | |||
|January 17, 2006 || Top user Albertpacino resigns after accusations of him being on Digg payroll<ref>{{cite web| url =http://digg.com/tech_news/Dan_Huard_is_digg_user_AlbertPacino | archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20080120235857/http://digg.com/tech_news/Dan_Huard_is_digg_user_AlbertPacino | archive-date =2008-01-20 | title =Dan Huard is digg user AlbertPacino | access-date =2010-08-02 | publisher =wehatetech }}</ref> | |||
|- | |||
|January 18, 2006 || Digg Clouds is introduced, search is improved | |||
|- | |||
|January 25, 2006 || Acquisition rumors begins | |||
|- | |||
|February 2, 2006 || Report stories as 'inaccurate' and profanity filters are introduced | |||
|- | |||
|February 15, 2006 || Digg widget for blogs and share by email is released | |||
|- | |||
|March 1, 2006 || New Digg comment system released, threaded and Diggable comments | |||
|- | |||
|April 20, 2006 || Digg Army Saga: after an exposé by forevergeek.com Kevin bans dozens of top users<ref>{{cite web | url =http://www.forevergeek.com/2006/04/digg_army_right_in_line/ | title =Digg Army: Right in Line | access-date =2010-08-02 | author =Macgyver | date =2006-04-19 | publisher =Forever Geek | archive-date =2010-08-14 | archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20100814212519/http://www.forevergeek.com/2006/04/digg_army_right_in_line/ | url-status =live }}</ref> | |||
|- | |||
|June 26, 2006 || Digg v3 rolled out, site redesign, shouts, new categories: politics and sports | |||
|- | |||
|July 24, 2006 || Digg Labs launches | |||
|- | |||
|August 15, 2006 || Thumbnails added | |||
|- | |||
|August 27, 2006 || Digg begins enforcing trademark rights | |||
|- | |||
|September 6, 2006 || User rebellion against Friends System and vote rigging results in promises about the diversity algorithms and other tools that were never implemented. Top user p9 resigns. | |||
|- | |||
|September 8, 2006 || diggriver.com is launched for mobile devices | |||
|- | |||
|September 12, 2006 || #1 Story feature added later renamed as favorites | |||
|- | |||
|December 18, 2006 || New features: Podcast, Videos, Top 10 sidebar, wide-screen support and friends page | |||
|- | |||
|December 28, 2006 || Raises $8.5 million in venture capital | |||
|- | |||
|February 2, 2007 || Top Diggers list removed after user complaints<ref>{{cite web | url =http://about.digg.com/blog/couple-updates%E2%80%A6 | title =A couple updates ... | access-date =2010-08-02 | first =Kevin | last =Rose | date =2007-02-01 | publisher =Digg blog | archive-date =2010-07-21 | archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20100721192726/http://about.digg.com/blog/couple-updates%E2%80%A6 | url-status =live }}</ref> | |||
|- | |||
|February 2, 2007 || Big Spy launched | |||
|- | |||
|February 26, 2007 || The new US elections 2008 section creates much buzz | |||
|- | |||
|March 1, 2007 || Blog post leads to concern about 'bury brigades'. Digg investigates and find no evidence for these allegations | |||
|- | |||
|April 19, 2007 || Digg API is made public, contest launched for best app using the API | |||
|- | |||
|May 1, 2007 || HD-DVD saga regarding the censorship of the leaked encryption key, Kevin yield to users and ends the censorship | |||
|- | |||
|June 4, 2007 || Facebook app is launched | |||
|- | |||
|June 21, 2007 || New Comment System – Joe Stump edition. Instant backlash from community after slow loading. | |||
|- | |||
|July 10, 2007 || iPhone app beta launched | |||
|- | |||
|July 25, 2007 || Ad partnership with Microsoft | |||
|- | |||
|August 27, 2007 || Customizable homepage options. Images and videos now back to homepage. | |||
|- | |||
|{{nowrap|September 19, 2007}} || New Digg profiles, story suggestion, email alerts | |||
|- | |||
|November 20, 2007 || Digg the Candidates: presidential candidates get their Digg accounts | |||
|- | |||
|February 1, 2008 || Digg town halls | |||
|- | |||
|May 15, 2008 || New comments system is released | |||
|- | |||
|June 30, 2008 || Recommendation engine is released | |||
|- | |||
|July 23, 2008 || Facebook minifeeds of Digg stories | |||
|- | |||
|July 31, 2008 || m.digg.com – mobile site is released | |||
|- | |||
|August 6, 2008 || Firefox extension released | |||
|- | |||
|August 25, 2008 || Digg Dialogg | |||
|- | |||
|September 8, 2008 || Digg warns users against script for auto digging friends stories. | |||
|- | |||
|September 24, 2008 || $28.7 million capital raised with Highland Capital Partners. | |||
|- | |||
|October 3, 2008 || A small number of power users are banned after they fail to follow guidelines against script digging.<ref>{{cite web | url =http://about.digg.com/blog/digg-update-script-abuse | title =Update on Script Abuse | access-date =2010-08-02 | first =Jen | last =Burton | date =2008-10-03 | work =Community blog | publisher =Digg | archive-date =2010-07-19 | archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20100719050233/http://about.digg.com/blog/digg-update-script-abuse | url-status =live }}</ref> | |||
|- | |||
|October 9, 2008 || Digg Spy and podcasts discontinued | |||
|- | |||
|December 18, 2008 || Related stories and "People who Dugg this also Dugg" boxes added to individual stories | |||
|- | |||
|April 2, 2009 || DiggBar and short url launched | |||
|- | |||
|April 9, 2009 || New search | |||
|- | |||
|May 6, 2009 || Facebook Connect | |||
|- | |||
|May 26, 2009 || Shouts feature is removed | |||
|- | |||
|August 6, 2009 || Diggable ads implemented | |||
|- | |||
|October 16, 2009 || Partners with WeFollow for categorizing user in the upcoming version 4 release | |||
|- | |||
|November 4, 2009 || Digg Trends launched | |||
|- | |||
|January 17, 2010 || Chrome extension launched | |||
|- | |||
|March 23, 2010 || iPhone app is launched | |||
|- | |||
|April 1, 2010 || Android app is launched | |||
|- | |||
|April 5, 2010 || Jay Adelson steps down as CEO, Kevin Rose becomes interim CEO | |||
|- | |||
|July 2, 2010 || Digg version 4 alpha testing begins | |||
|- | |||
|August 3, 2010 || Digg takes down new user registration in preparation for Digg 4.0<ref>{{cite web | url = https://thenextweb.com/apps/2010/08/03/the-new-digg-cometh/ | title = The New Digg Cometh? | access-date = 2014-01-30 | date = 2010-08-03 | last = Alex | first = Wilhelm | archive-date = 2013-10-05 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20131005020901/http://thenextweb.com/apps/2010/08/03/the-new-digg-cometh/ | url-status = live }}</ref> | |||
|- | |||
|August 25, 2010 || Digg v4 is released: My News and Publisher Streams launched | |||
|- | |||
|September 1, 2010 || Matt Williams replaces Kevin Rose as CEO | |||
|- | |||
|October 27, 2010 || Digg lays off 37% of its staff along with refocusing the service<ref>{{cite web |first=Michael |last=Arrington |url=https://techcrunch.com/2010/10/25/digg-to-lay-off-37-percentof-staff/ |title=Digg To Layoff 37% Of Staff, Product Refocus Imminent |publisher=Techcrunch.com |date=2010-10-25 |access-date=2010-11-07 |archive-date=2010-11-06 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101106135535/http://techcrunch.com/2010/10/25/digg-to-lay-off-37-percentof-staff/ |url-status=live }}</ref> | |||
|- | |||
|March 18, 2011 || Kevin Rose resigns from his role in the company<ref>Christina Warren, mashable.com. . {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110320024259/http://mashable.com/2011/03/18/kevin-rose-resigns-from-digg-report/ |date=2011-03-20 }} March 18, 2011. Retrieved March 18, 2011.</ref> | |||
|- | |||
|August 9, 2011 || Newswire is launched. | |||
|- | |||
|September 20, 2011 || Newsroom is launched | |||
|- | |||
|December 22, 2011 || Digg ] is introduced. | |||
|- | |||
|March 6, 2012 || Digg Mobile is now in a relationship with Digg Social Reader. | |||
|- | |||
|July 12, 2012 || Digg announced its sale to Betaworks for $500,000.<ref>{{cite web|first1=Joseph|last1=Walker|first2=Spencer E.|last2=Ante|url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052702304373804577523181002565776|title=Once a Social Media Star, Digg Sells for $500,000|work=The Wall Street Journal|date=2012-07-12|access-date=2012-07-13|archive-date=2014-12-15|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141215204009/http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052702304373804577523181002565776|url-status=live}}</ref> | |||
|- | |||
|July 20, 2012 || Digg announces new site redesign in progress, "rebooting" the site back to v1 as a "startup", slated for release on August 1, 2012.<ref name="Rethink Digg Twitter Announcement" /><ref name="The New Digg" /><ref name="Rethink Digg" /><ref name="Murphey 2012" /> | |||
|- | |||
|August 1, 2012 || Digg releases v1 site reboot<ref>{{citation |url=https://www.theverge.com/2012/8/1/3212627/digg-relaunch-betaworks-video |title=Digg's resurrection: can Betaworks revive the once-loved site? |publisher=TheVerge.com |date=2012-08-01 |access-date=2012-08-02 |archive-date=2012-08-03 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120803002205/http://www.theverge.com/2012/8/1/3212627/digg-relaunch-betaworks-video |url-status=live }}</ref> | |||
|- | |||
|June 28, 2013 || Digg Reader launches<ref>{{citation |url=http://blog.digg.com/post/54149272160/digg-reader-is-live |title=Digg Reader is Live! |publisher=Digg Blog |date=2013-06-28 |access-date=2013-06-28 |archive-date=2013-06-29 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130629145843/http://blog.digg.com/post/54149272160/digg-reader-is-live |url-status=live }}</ref> | |||
|- | |||
|March 17, 2017 || Michael O'Connor replaces Gary Liu as the CEO of Digg<ref>{{citation |url=https://medium.com/@thedooofroo/digging-in-6820df6a8b30 |title=Digging In |publisher=Medium |date=2017-03-17 |access-date=2017-03-17 |archive-date=2018-01-14 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180114020705/https://medium.com/@thedooofroo/digging-in-6820df6a8b30 |url-status=live }}</ref> | |||
|} | |||
== See also == | |||
{{Portal|Internet}} | |||
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{{colend}} | |||
== References == | |||
{{Reflist|colwidth=30em}} | |||
== External links == | |||
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Latest revision as of 17:17, 19 December 2024
Social media/news aggregator website This article is about the website. For the place in Scotland, see Digg, Skye.This article needs to be updated. Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information. (June 2015) |
Type of site | Social news |
---|---|
Available in | English |
Founded | November 2004; 20 years ago (2004-11) |
Headquarters | New York City, United States |
Area served | Worldwide |
Owner | BuySellAds.com, Inc. |
Founder(s) | Kevin Rose |
Key people | Michael O'Connor (CEO) |
Revenue | Unknown |
Employees | 25 (2018) |
URL | digg |
Advertising | None |
Registration | Optional |
Launched | December 5, 2004; 20 years ago (2004-12-05) |
Current status | Active |
Written in | Python |
Digg (stylized in lowercase as digg) is an American news aggregator with a curated front page, aiming to select articles specifically for the Internet audience such as science, trending political issues, and viral Internet issues. It was launched in its current form on July 31, 2012, with support for sharing content to other social platforms such as Twitter and Facebook.
Digg was formerly a popular social news website, allowing people to vote user-generated and web content up or down, called digging and burying, respectively. In 2012, Quantcast estimated Digg's monthly U.S. unique visits at 3.8 million. Digg's popularity prompted the creation of similar sites such as Reddit.
In July 2008, the former company took part in advanced acquisition talks with Google for a reported $200 million price tag, but the deal ultimately fell through. After a controversial 2010 redesign and the departure of co-founders Jay Adelson and Kevin Rose, in July 2012 Digg was sold in three parts: the Digg brand, website, and technology were sold to Betaworks for an estimated $500,000; 15 staff were transferred to The Washington Post Company's "SocialCode" for a reported $12 million; and a suite of patents was sold to LinkedIn for about $4 million.
In April 2018, Digg was purchased by BuySellAds, an advertising company, for an undisclosed amount.
It is rumoured that Kevin Rose has purchased Digg back and is relaunching it in 2025. Their Twitter account teases the date March 8, 2025 as "3825" is used in multiple images uploaded in December.
History
Digg started as an experiment in November 2004 by collaborators Kevin Rose, Owen Byrne, Ron Gorodetzky, and Jay Adelson. The original design by Dan Ries was free of advertisements. To monetize, the company originally used Google AdSense but switched to MSN adCenter in 2007.
The site's main function was to let users discover, share and recommend web content. Members of the community could submit a webpage for general consideration. Other members could vote that page up ("digg") or down ("bury"). Although voting took place on digg.com, many websites added "digg" buttons to their pages, allowing users to vote as they browsed the web. The end product was a series of wide-ranging, constantly updated lists of popular and trending content from around the Internet, aggregated by a social network.
Additions and improvements were made throughout the website's first years. Digg v2 was released in July 2005, with a new interface by web design company silverorange. New features included a friends list, and the ability to "digg" a story without being redirected to a success page. One year later, as part of Digg v3, the website added specific categories for technology, science, world and business, videos, entertainment, and gaming, as well as a "view all" section that merged all categories. Further interface adjustments were made in August 2007.
By 2008, Digg's homepage was attracting over 236 million visitors annually, according to a Compete.com survey. Digg had grown large enough that it was thought to affect the traffic of submitted web pages. Some pages experienced a sudden increase in traffic shortly after being submitted; some Digg users refer to this as the "Digg effect".
Redesign
CEO Jay Adelson said in 2010 that the site would go through some major changes. In the interview with Wired magazine, Adelson said that "Every single THING has changed" and that "the entire website has been rewritten." The company changed from MySQL to Cassandra, a distributed database system; in a blog post, VP Engineering John Quinn said that the move was "bold". Adelson summed up the new Digg by saying, "We've got a new backend, a new infrastructure layer, a new services layer, new machines—everything."
Adelson stepped down as CEO on April 5, 2010, to explore entrepreneurial opportunities, months before the launch date of Digg v4. He had been the company's CEO since its inception. Kevin Rose, another original founder, stepped in temporarily as CEO and Chairman.
Digg's v4 release on August 25, 2010, was marred by site-wide bugs and glitches. Digg users reacted with hostile verbal opposition. Beyond the release, Digg faced problems due to so-called "power users" who would manipulate the article recommendation features to only support one another's postings, flooding the site with articles only from these users and making it impossible to have genuine content from non-power users appear on the front page. Frustrations with the system led to dwindling web traffic, exacerbated by heavy competition from Facebook, whose like buttons started to appear on websites next to Digg's. High staff turnover included the departure of head of business development Matt Van Horn, shortly after v4's release.
On September 1, 2010, Matt Williams took over as CEO, ending Rose's troubled tenure as interim chief executive.
In 2013, Andrew McLaughlin took over as CEO after Digg was sold to BetaWorks and re-launched.
In 2015, Gary Liu took over as Digg CEO.
In 2016, Joshua Auerbach took over as interim CEO.
In September 2016, Digg announced that it would begin a data partnership with Gannett. The "seven figure" investment would give Gannett access to real-time trend analysis of Digg's 7.5 million pieces of content.
In 2017, Michael O'Connor took over as CEO, and continues as CEO today.
Sale and relaunch
In July 2012, Digg was sold in three parts:
- the Digg brand, website, and technology were sold to Betaworks for $500,000;
- 15 staff were transferred to The Washington Post's Code3 project for $12 million;
- the patent portfolio was sold to LinkedIn for approximately $4 million.
There were reports that Digg had been trying to sell itself to a larger company since 2006. The most notable attempt took place in July 2008, when Google entered talks to buy Digg for around $200 million. Google walked away from negotiations during the deal's due diligence phase, informing Digg on July 25 that it was no longer interested in the purchase. Digg subsequently accepted further venture capital funding, receiving $28.7 million in September 2008 from investors such as Highland Capital Partners to move headquarters and add staff. Several months later, CEO Jay Adelson said Digg was no longer for sale.
On July 20, 2012, new owners Betaworks announced via Twitter that they were rebuilding Digg from scratch, "turning back into a start-up". Betaworks gave the project a six-week deadline. Surveys of existing users, collected through the website ReThinkDigg.com, were used to inform the development of a new user interface and user experience.
The "rethought" Digg reset its version number and launched as Digg v1 a day prior to the Betaworks project deadline, on July 31, 2012. It featured an editorially driven front page, more images, and top, popular and upcoming stories. Users could access a new scoring system. There was increased support for sharing content to other social platforms such as Twitter and Facebook. Digg's front page content was selected by editors, instead of users on other communities like Reddit.
Until its sale to BuySellAds.com in 2018, its offices were located at 50 Eldridge Street in New York City's Chinatown.
Features
Digg Reader
Main article: Digg ReaderIn response to the announced shutdown of Google Reader, Digg announced on March 14, 2013 that it was working on its own RSS reader. Digg Reader launched on June 28, 2013 as a web and iOS application. An Android app was released on August 29, 2013. Digg announced that it would shut down Digg Reader on March 26, 2018.
Issues relating to former Digg website
Organized promotion and censorship by users
Main article: Digg PatriotsIt was possible for users to have disproportionate influence on Digg, either by themselves or in teams. These users were sometimes motivated to promote or bury pages for political or financial reasons.
Serious attempts by users to game the site began in 2006. A top user was banned after agreeing to promote a story for cash to an undercover Digg sting operation. Another group of users openly formed a 'Bury Brigade' to remove "spam" articles about US politician Ron Paul; critics accused the group of attempting to stifle any mention of Ron Paul on Digg.
Digg hired computer scientist Anton Kast to develop a diversity algorithm that would prevent special interest groups from dominating Digg. During a town hall meeting, Digg executives responded to criticism by removing some features that gave superusers extra weight, but declined to make "buries" transparent.
However, later that year Google increased its page rank for Digg. Shortly afterwards, many 'pay for Diggs' startups were created to profit from the opportunity. According to TechCrunch, one top user charged $700 per story, with a $500 bonus if the story reached the front page.
Digg Patriots was a conservative Yahoo! Groups mailing list, with an associated page on coRank, accused of coordinated, politically motivated behavior on Digg. Progressive blogger Ole Ole Olson wrote in August 2010 that Digg Patriots undertook a year-long effort of organized burying of seemingly liberal articles from Digg's Upcoming module. He also accused leading members of vexatiously reporting liberal users for banning (and those who seemed liberal), and creating "sleeper" accounts in the event of administrators banning their accounts. These and other actions would violate Digg's terms of usage. Olson's post was immediately followed by the disbanding and closure of the DiggPatriots list, and an investigation into the matter by Digg.
AACS encryption key controversy
Main article: AACS encryption key controversyOn 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. 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. Although some users defended Digg's actions, as a whole the community staged a widespread revolt with numerous articles and comments made using the encryption key. The scope of the user response was so great that one of the Digg users referred to it as a "digital Boston Tea Party". 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."
Digg v4
Digg's version 4 release was initially unstable. The site was unreachable or unstable for weeks after its launch on August 25, 2010. Many users, upon finally reaching the site, complained about the new design and the removal of many features (such as bury, favorites, friends submissions, upcoming pages, subcategories, videos and history search). Kevin Rose replied to complaints on his blog, promising to fix the algorithm and restore some features.
Alexis Ohanian, founder of rival site Reddit, said in an open letter to Rose:
this new version of digg reeks of VC meddling. It's cobbling together features from more popular sites and departing from the core of digg, which was to "give the power back to the people."
Disgruntled users declared a "quit Digg day" on August 30, 2010, and used Digg's own auto-submit feature to fill the front page with content from Reddit. Reddit also temporarily added the Digg shovel to their logo to welcome fleeing Digg users.
Digg's traffic dropped significantly after the launch of version 4, and publishers reported a drop in direct referrals from stories on Digg's front page. New CEO Matt Williams attempted to address some of the users' concerns in a blog post on October 12, 2010, promising to reinstate many of the features that had been removed.
Timeline
This section needs to be updated. Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information. (March 2020) |
Date | Event |
---|---|
October 2004 | Development on digg.com begins |
December 1, 2004 | Kevin Rose creates the first profile |
December 3, 2004 | The first story is submitted to Digg |
December 5, 2004 | Digg is open to public |
December 13, 2004 | Kevin Rose shows off Digg on The Screen Savers |
January 2, 2005 | Comment section introduced for stories |
February 28, 2005 | Digg 1.6: duplicate story detection |
March 19, 2005 | Profile page now includes comment histories and sort by category |
May 9, 2005 | Digg spy is released |
May 27, 2005 | Digg 2.0 is released. Friends feature, ajax buttons for Digg/bury, and a non-linear promotion algorithm are implemented. |
July 2, 2005 | Diggnation podcast begins with Alex and Kevin |
October 2005 | Raises $2.8 million in venture capital |
December 2005 | Digg Spy 2.0 released |
December 2005 | KoolAidGuy saga results in anti-spam tools being introduced |
January 17, 2006 | Top user Albertpacino resigns after accusations of him being on Digg payroll |
January 18, 2006 | Digg Clouds is introduced, search is improved |
January 25, 2006 | Acquisition rumors begins |
February 2, 2006 | Report stories as 'inaccurate' and profanity filters are introduced |
February 15, 2006 | Digg widget for blogs and share by email is released |
March 1, 2006 | New Digg comment system released, threaded and Diggable comments |
April 20, 2006 | Digg Army Saga: after an exposé by forevergeek.com Kevin bans dozens of top users |
June 26, 2006 | Digg v3 rolled out, site redesign, shouts, new categories: politics and sports |
July 24, 2006 | Digg Labs launches |
August 15, 2006 | Thumbnails added |
August 27, 2006 | Digg begins enforcing trademark rights |
September 6, 2006 | User rebellion against Friends System and vote rigging results in promises about the diversity algorithms and other tools that were never implemented. Top user p9 resigns. |
September 8, 2006 | diggriver.com is launched for mobile devices |
September 12, 2006 | #1 Story feature added later renamed as favorites |
December 18, 2006 | New features: Podcast, Videos, Top 10 sidebar, wide-screen support and friends page |
December 28, 2006 | Raises $8.5 million in venture capital |
February 2, 2007 | Top Diggers list removed after user complaints |
February 2, 2007 | Big Spy launched |
February 26, 2007 | The new US elections 2008 section creates much buzz |
March 1, 2007 | Blog post leads to concern about 'bury brigades'. Digg investigates and find no evidence for these allegations |
April 19, 2007 | Digg API is made public, contest launched for best app using the API |
May 1, 2007 | HD-DVD saga regarding the censorship of the leaked encryption key, Kevin yield to users and ends the censorship |
June 4, 2007 | Facebook app is launched |
June 21, 2007 | New Comment System – Joe Stump edition. Instant backlash from community after slow loading. |
July 10, 2007 | iPhone app beta launched |
July 25, 2007 | Ad partnership with Microsoft |
August 27, 2007 | Customizable homepage options. Images and videos now back to homepage. |
September 19, 2007 | New Digg profiles, story suggestion, email alerts |
November 20, 2007 | Digg the Candidates: presidential candidates get their Digg accounts |
February 1, 2008 | Digg town halls |
May 15, 2008 | New comments system is released |
June 30, 2008 | Recommendation engine is released |
July 23, 2008 | Facebook minifeeds of Digg stories |
July 31, 2008 | m.digg.com – mobile site is released |
August 6, 2008 | Firefox extension released |
August 25, 2008 | Digg Dialogg |
September 8, 2008 | Digg warns users against script for auto digging friends stories. |
September 24, 2008 | $28.7 million capital raised with Highland Capital Partners. |
October 3, 2008 | A small number of power users are banned after they fail to follow guidelines against script digging. |
October 9, 2008 | Digg Spy and podcasts discontinued |
December 18, 2008 | Related stories and "People who Dugg this also Dugg" boxes added to individual stories |
April 2, 2009 | DiggBar and short url launched |
April 9, 2009 | New search |
May 6, 2009 | Facebook Connect |
May 26, 2009 | Shouts feature is removed |
August 6, 2009 | Diggable ads implemented |
October 16, 2009 | Partners with WeFollow for categorizing user in the upcoming version 4 release |
November 4, 2009 | Digg Trends launched |
January 17, 2010 | Chrome extension launched |
March 23, 2010 | iPhone app is launched |
April 1, 2010 | Android app is launched |
April 5, 2010 | Jay Adelson steps down as CEO, Kevin Rose becomes interim CEO |
July 2, 2010 | Digg version 4 alpha testing begins |
August 3, 2010 | Digg takes down new user registration in preparation for Digg 4.0 |
August 25, 2010 | Digg v4 is released: My News and Publisher Streams launched |
September 1, 2010 | Matt Williams replaces Kevin Rose as CEO |
October 27, 2010 | Digg lays off 37% of its staff along with refocusing the service |
March 18, 2011 | Kevin Rose resigns from his role in the company |
August 9, 2011 | Newswire is launched. |
September 20, 2011 | Newsroom is launched |
December 22, 2011 | Digg Social Reader is introduced. |
March 6, 2012 | Digg Mobile is now in a relationship with Digg Social Reader. |
July 12, 2012 | Digg announced its sale to Betaworks for $500,000. |
July 20, 2012 | Digg announces new site redesign in progress, "rebooting" the site back to v1 as a "startup", slated for release on August 1, 2012. |
August 1, 2012 | Digg releases v1 site reboot |
June 28, 2013 | Digg Reader launches |
March 17, 2017 | Michael O'Connor replaces Gary Liu as the CEO of Digg |
See also
- Delicious
- diggnation
- Fark
- Menéame
- Mixx
- Propeller.com
- Slashdot
- Social bookmarking
- StumbleUpon
- Virato Social News
- Web 2.0
- Wykop.pl
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