Okay Geek Farm
Why the new Digg will probably (and sadly) be successful
Brandon Davenport
Ever since the new Digg was launched in Alpha, people went crazy over the new design and features. There was very little complaining about missing elements, or new ways of doing things, and in fact, their was much praise from mostly everyone. It was shaping up to be an insanely successful launch — but I don’t think the objective was “improving” Digg, it may have just been to start a clean slate.
Think about it. When Digg v3 was still ruling the internet, we had a lot of the same issues we now have in the new Digg — namely a “rigged” news feed. There were non-stop attacks from political extremists, who managed to censor the homepage, and there were also “power users” who had complete control over the homepage’s content. Though they were not as noticeable as Digg’s current issues, they were still significant.
When the new Digg launched, power users, hardcore fans and political extremists started to dislike the sites image, and that’s when people started to get rowdy. Mainstream news sites were defecating the homepage with auto-submitted news, and power users were left to morn the loss of the “old Digg”. Many began to migrate over to Reddit, and soon after Abandon Digg Day was dubbed to take place Monday. Things were starting to hit rock bottom… but was this all in the plans to begin with?
Shedding power users and extremists
Digg v4 has changed a lot, but the most noticeable is the focus on bringing a personal, and individual experience for each user. In my mind, this is Digg’s move to shake off the power users and people who rig the system, so they can take on a whole new demographic… the average person.
Up until v4, Digg has been a place for geeks. The homepage was filled with geeky news, and references that the average Joe wouldn’t enjoy. Now, I feel that my non-tech savvy Mom or Sister would be able to enjoy Digg because they’ll be able to follow things they enjoy, and create their own news feed. For anyone who never got to experience the “old Digg”, this is a truly compelling idea.
Personally, I no longer use the “top news” section because I’d much rather read news that’s fresh, and relevant to what my friends enjoy. I also appreciate the simplification of the site overall, because as an “average” Digger, I found the old site way to complicated, crowded and confusing.
Rapid growth incoming
When you think of it, geeks are about 10% of the people using the internet — the rest are people like my sister, mom and family who couldn’t care less about Apple’s latest iDevice, or HP’s acquisition of Palm. They want to read, and share things their friends like and have their own little community, rather than be a part of one big one.
In my mind, for Digg, this is an excellent move forward and will probably re-shape the website as a service that anyone can enjoy, and not just the geeks. The bottom line is Digg is trying to get rid of all these power users and die-hards, so they can focus more on serving a broader user base, with all sorts of interests — and that’s the sad part. A piece of internet history is about to die off, and become something else.
By the way, all the power to Reddit for taking in all of the Digg refugees, and supporting their need for geeky news and quirky conversations. Trust us, if you don’t like the new Digg, head over to Reddit — they’ll even throw in a free backrub.
