What is Digg?
Digg is the biggest social news site on the web. According to Compete.com, in March 2008 over 19 million people visited Digg.com. Unlike traditional news sources where editors and publishers decide what qualifies as news what appears on Digg.com is controlled by the Digg community.
Thousands of stories are submitted to Digg in categories including technology, science, world & business, sports, videos, entertainment, and gaming.
If you like a story you have the option to “digg” and endorse it. Stories that get “dugg” then compete with each other. Each story has a lifespan of 24 hours. If it quickly gets enough votes the story will be promoted to the front page. Typically 15 stories are on the front page at any given time, and they’ll usually stick around for 2 to 2.5 hours.
So why should you care about Digg? If you understand how Digg works and what kinds of content gets lots of votes, you can adapt those lessons to your blog or website and create content that will be popular with the Digg community, with the search engines, and ultimately – and most importantly – with your visitors. Understanding this social media helps you understand how to create and position your own content. Digg is like a test environment: You can check out articles in your field and apply what you learn to your own content strategy.