Digg: What is it and how does it work?
Digg is a user driven social news website made for people to discover and share content from anywhere on the Internet, by submitting links and stories.
Like Reddit and Newsvine, Digg users exercise editorial power and collectively determine the value of content.
Commenting on and voting stories up and down is the site’s cornerstone feature, called ‘digging’ and ‘burying’. Many stories are submitted every day, but only the most ‘dugg’ stories appear on the front page.
The site is split up into two sections – “Popular” stories and “Upcoming” stories. Newly submitted stories are filed into the “Upcoming” stories section. This is where other people read your submission and “Digg” what they like best. If your story receives enough Diggs, it’s promoted to the “Popular” section. This effectively allows the Digg community to choose which stories are the best.
Digg has become a very effective marketing tool for businesses. It enables them to promote their work and share information on what they do. However, companies on social bookmarking sites can have the image of outsiders, or a third party. In order to function within the community, entrepreneurs need to follow social bookmarking etiquette–contribute, be honest, and get involved.
Another distinctive feature is the ability of users to get rid of unwanted content. Every story has a “Bury” button to filter out bad links, off-topic articles and duplicate entries. Stories also have comment sections where users can discuss the story at hand.
However the website has been met with criticism regarding user control over content. It has been argued that providing users with such power allows sensationalism and misinformation to thrive.
Critics have noted how quickly a misleading article can reach many users, blowing unsupported claims or accusations out of proportion.
Other critics feel that the site’s operators may exercise too much control over which articles appear on the front page as well as the comments on Digg’s forums. Some users complain that they have been blocked from posting, and their accounts disabled, for making comments in the user-moderated forums that conflict with the personal interests of Digg’s operators.
Users have also been accused of acting as a ‘Bury Brigade’ by tagging articles that disagree with Digg as spam.
But if you like the idea of news sharing and bookmarking, Digg is an efficient website that provides users with a platform to exchange opinions.