Digg’s Hole
I’ve been a member of Digg “community” for approximately a year. As I have mentioned before, I don’t interact with other Digg members and only used the site to digg stories rather than spend useless time submitting stories. There was a time when I used Digg every day, but those days have long passed. For one, I’m a much busier person than I was when I first joined Digg. The other reason I don’t use the site as much is because it is still heavily niche-based in tech that non geeks may not find as appealing. Yes, I know that the politics section has seen some growth, but 99% of the political stories are about Ron Paul. For me, Digg doesn’t give me a proper balance of news because there is more to life than tech and Ron Paul stories, you know. And balance is one of the reasons why I feel Digg is having an issue with their exit strategy: acquisition.
There have been rumors swirling that a sale of Digg is imminent. If true, I hope it’s to a buyer than can make some changes to Digg. While the site’s numbers in terms of page views and new sign ups continues to grow, the type of news that’s presented to the front page on Digg is pretty much the same every day – tech, Ron Paul stories, or “wacky and weird” stories. For Digg to be a mainstream player, a hierarchy of editors will need to be added to bring some balance to the site. In the past, CEO Jay Adelson has rejected the idea of adding an editorial process to the stories on Digg - although some think editors do exist. While I can understand his view of allowing the users to filter the content, the content isn’t varied enough to draw in and retain an audience who visit traditional news sites on a daily basis; I still have to visit mainstream news sites for “real” news instead of just relying on Digg for all of my news. This is where an editorial process would help. Editors could gather a batch of submitted/dugg stories from all genre types and promote those on the front page. Of course, doing this would anger (more like rage) the Digg community in large because they feel the site is theirs – an unfortunate side effect from allowing the community to be in charge of content. However, I think for Digg to really become a mainstream player in the news space, an overlaying editorial process is a necessary step to move beyond its current news base. I just don’t think it will happen as long as Digg is run by Adelson and Kevin Rose.
Speaking of Rose, there are other things that could impact him and Revision3 if Digg is sold. The first thing I thought about when I heard the rumors was this: what would happen to Diggnation? Oddly enough, I care more about the future of Diggnation than the actual Digg site because it is one of my favorite video podcasts. Suppose Digg is purchased by an “old school” media company who wants to make changes that Rose doesn’t agree with and he quits the company. Would Diggnation continue? It is, after all, the most popular show on Revision3. If the breakup between Rose and the owners is sour rather than sweet, would they file an injunction to stop him from mentioning and/or using Digg’s trademarks in the show? It would be pretty ironic since Digg goes after other sites for using any of their trademarks. I would like to think that this issue of Digg’s trademark being used for a Revision3 show has already been ironed out, but what if it isn’t? Of course, this is all speculation, but I’m just thinking out loud here. In addition to Diggnation, there is another factor that comes with acquisition.
If Digg is acquired by a larger company, it would only be a matter of time before that company’s culture and environment overtakes Digg’s. Of course, I have no clue about Digg’s office culture, but I get the feeling that it’s pretty relaxed. My experience with acquisition is that the acquiring company tends to “corporatize” the companies they acquire. They promise that the acquisition won’t change things, but it’s always a lie. Just think of Bungie (the Halo makers) staff who were apparently unhappy with the Microsoft culture taking over their environment. I would like to think the new owners wouldn’t alienate Rose to such a degree that he would leave Digg, which would result in the exodus of many fanboys with him. On the other hand, the departure of some fanboys might be a good thing for Digg.
If you’re a digger and have been using the site for some time, then you’re probably aware of the “community” on the site. It is filled with many people who don’t respect a difference of opinion and has a large group of harassing, sexist, and racist members. I have read some comments where diggers attack and bury people’s comments for disagreeing and showing a different point of view. Whatever happened to freedom of speech? Disagreeing with someone on a story or comment on Digg is equivalent to communist China’s censorship of the Internet. So much for that whole “wisdom of the crowds” philosophy; the idiocracy has taken over and dictate with an iron fist by crushing alternating points of views. It’s gotten so bad that I don’t really digg anymore, and when I do bother to log in, I only use it through Big Spy and avoid reading comments altogether. If acquired, then I think the acquiring company should clean up the site of these abusers, enforce its terms of service regarding community behavior, and perhaps even remove the comments feature completely from Digg. In my opinion, it’s gotten just that bad. Yes, I realize that you would probably alienate a large portion of the community, so comments removal may not happen. At best, we can hope that they enforce some community standards for behavior and stop some of the abuse. Otherwise, diggers who are sick of the toxic Digg community will continue to seek refuge elsewhere because I don’t see Adelson and Rose cleaning it up and enforcing some sort of law and order.
Digg is currently the king that’s ruled by its subjects. Could this be the one of the reasons why Digg is having a hard time selling itself? Or is it just that the asking price is too high? I suspect it’s the later; however, don’t rule out that it may be a combination of these two factors. After the HD-DVD controversy and Digg’s decision to cave, some would-be buyers might be reluctant to take on a site where the inmates have the keys to the prison. Digg shows one of the main problems with startups whose businesses are based on user generated content. Users are their bread and butter for making money via advertising, so these startups often walk a fine line when it comes to doing anything to tick off its user base. If the acquiring company makes some changes that Digg’s community strongly disagrees with, then there is the possibility that users will leave and that Digg will become the next Friendster. The users have had free reign on the site for too long and have shown in the past that they’re not receptive to change.
Just imagine, for a moment, if Rupert Murdoch’s NewsCorp acquired Digg. Talk about an inmate revolt!