Okay Geek Farm
Sneak peek at the new version of Digg
Brandon Davenport
On a lovely Sunday, Kevin Rose Tweeted a toot that made us all want to hang out with our own Dads - He was just working on some “Digg stuff” while chillin’ with the old man, and all seemed normal, that is until people started to get a bit curious at what was on his Macbook screen. It seemed to be the good ol’ Digg we know, but when you look reeeely close, you can see that it is something much different…
Working on @digg stuff while relaxing with my dad in evergreen, co. Home tomorrow #lifeisgood http://twitpic.com/1ofwqh
Kevin Rose
kevinrose
What seems to be cooking up is a snazzy new interface, some razzle dazzle and more personalization, which all leads to one thing, a social network. The direction they seem to be going in with this new update is a Facebook-like simplified community, with the core focuses being News, Sharability and most of all Simplified integration with what you already use.
What is most prodominate is the new “Digg this” text field which screams Twitter, but in a sense, makes a lot of, well, sense! Being able to cut-copy-pasta a URL into a little box, and then have it be Dugg is going to be an easy way for new Diggers to be introduced to Digging, and how simple it now is. No more 10 minute processes to get your story on Digg, now it’ll be easy - but what is more important is it feels more like a social network, and it brings a level of connection to new and existing members. Personally, I don’t feel “connected” when submitting stories to Digg. Now, I hope I will feel like I’m not just adding my story to a mess of other stories, which will be read by masses of people - I will hopefully feel like I am “Saying something” to the community, through the impulsiveness of typing in a text box.
Another thing which I know is coming to Digg, is the ability to sort stories into a sort of “Basket” which will probably be a mix of categories you like, or a set of users you enjoy hearing from. Also, the interface of Digg is going to feel a lot less like a website, and more like a web-app, like Facebook or Twitter. You can see there has been a huge cleanup of the homepage, and I imagine it is meant to feel like a much more intimate experience; being presented with your own homepage, and not the one everyone else sees too.
The site’s design elements and color pallets seem to remain pretty much the same, with the absence of excess clutter and un-needed stuff, which are not relevant to the users interest (again, trying to go for the “Social Network Vibe”).
Sneak Peek - Enhanced by T3ch H3lp
So what does this mean? - Well this all could be just a personalized version of Digg for Kevin, but I wouldn’t bet my money on it. Kevin is the kind of guy who loves to leave little breadcrumbs for us to follow, and have our imaginations run wild, but one thing is for sure - we can’t wait for the update. Digg has needed a re-fresh for a while now, and we need to flip it over and have a new slate to play with as users.
