Digg Dug Deep Dip
October 2, 2010
I use an aggregation tool we built called Oversight. You can see how it works with its features stripped away at this link. We look at some aggregation sites at lunch, so we don’t have much first hand knowledge about Digg.com. “Is It Too Late for a Digg Comeback?” raises an important question. For me, this passage seemed particularly interesting:
Whether or not the adjustments and upcoming changes will be enough to bring back some of the vibrant Digg community of old remains to be seen. More new features are likely to be rolled out, including “interests” pages, but not much is known about that or whether users will want it. Rose mentioned the return of user “leader-boards,” which had always been popular in the past. The pagination could mean an uptick in page views, which could do good things for the company’s bottom line and morale. Also, once the site’s API stabilizes, it could mean a slew of new products developed around Digg, as well as more traffic. “Publishers can reliably use Digg buttons and Digg widgets once Digg gets its API up to speed,” said Barrera. “More developers will also be able to create web experiences around Digg data, which means Digg will be able to reach a lot more people than through just their site.”
Changes and technology conspired to create problems for Digg. I thought that zippy outfits in Silicon Valley and San Francisco were able to handle tweaks. I think the idea is agility, flexibility, and adaptability. I was wrong. When a site makes fixes, the same old problems crop up just as they do in more traditional, less hip systems. The idea that big Webby systems are easy to manage is silly.
But the main take away for me is that a hot site can cool quickly. On top of that, annoyed users no longer click away. Those annoyed users fire up their Twitter account and start tweeting. Then blogs jump in. Finally, a serious news outfit like Venture Beat picks up the story.
At that point, it is indeed too late. Online is tough even for the young of heart, living in San Francisco, doing podcasts, and implementing Google-esque management methods. Just an opinion from Harrod’s Creek.
Stephen E Arnold, October 2, 2010
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