Is Digg still relevant?

Digg burst on to the Internet in 2004 as a new way to share content. Unlike traditional news sites, it turned over the editorial reins to the audience, an innovation at the time.

But then came Twitter and Facebook, two media that threw other social-sharing mechanisms into the mix. People could more easily share their own photos and content, next to their favorite New York Times article or YouTube clip. Digg continued to grow, but the audiences at Twitter and Facebook soon surpassed the 30 million worldwide unique visitors Digg receives monthly.

So is Digg still relevant?

At this point, yes, especially since its audience remains sizable. The jury is out on its V4 redesign, however, and as the New York Times noted, the site’s domestic user base — the one most appealing to advertisers — has shrunk dramatically.

One point from the Times piece resonated most strongly:

Digg pursued a redesign because Power Diggers [those whose "diggs" have more weight] had come to wield such an inordinate influence on the ranking of stories that new visitors to Digg usually found their submissions all but forgotten — sometimes making the site feel like a members-only club, rather than the communal product of unfettered crowdsourcing.

Social media must be truly social. If people feel alienated or irrelevant, they will head to spaces that fulfill their needs for interaction and connectivity. If the redesign doesn’t remedy this situation, people will seek satisfaction elsewhere.

Analyzing Digg’s competitive landscape

We can also apply corporate-strategy principles to analyze Digg’s situation:

• Threat of new entrants: Designing a news site driven by the audience is not difficult to duplicate. ReddIt and Newsvine are just a few competitors that have sprung up, and improved technologies make it easier for competitors to enter the market. Although not a true audience-choice site, Google News applies its algorithmic link magic to crowdsourcing to find the most important topics on the Web. The social media have shown that people love to share, and the millions of users have drawn many entrepreneurs into the mix. Open-source alternatives have arisen as well. Verdict: Bad for Digg.
• Bargaining power of buyers: In the crowding social-media sphere, advertisers have more places to choose from, and with declining domestic numbers, advertisers will gain some leverage in negotiating with Digg. Verdict: Bad for Digg.
• Threat of substitute products and services: Facebook and Twitter have already stolen much of Digg’s thunder as they’ve incorporated news-sharing ability into a broader social space. As mentioned earlier, other sites with similar functionality have sprung up and have provided head-on competition with interfaces that might appeal more to some audiences. Verdict: Bad for Digg.
• Bargaining power of suppliers: The social media have shifted power to the user. As Facebook found, redesigns should not be handled lightly, and some Digg users initially rebelled against the changes. According to the Times story, a group of Power Diggers promoted links to ReddIt stories shortly after the change rollout as a protest. But the community hasn’t declined in usage globally. Verdict: Neutral for Digg.
• Rivalry among existing competitors: The competition for eyeballs and users in the social-media sphere is intense and aggressive. Popular sites such as Friendster and MySpace were quickly supplanted as fickle users headed elsewhere. Verdict: Bad for Digg.

The analysis looks bleak for Digg, but it does have the support of private investors and a core community of dedicated users. The key will be shifting its strategy toward untapped niches. How can it provide news-sharing content for specific communities? Although it may mean an audience plateau, it could result in a more loyal, dedicated following resistant to the competitive pressures from other sites.

What should users do?

The Digg button

So is Digg relevant for you, the social-media user? I always encourage people to use the spaces and technologies that fit their needs. If you find Digg’s topic selection spot-on, chances are you should engage that community. Participate. Digg stories.

Some analysts have shown that alternate news-sharing buttons such as Facebook Like and Tweetmeme are replacing the Digg button. If more of your desired audience participates in Facebook, Twitter, or StumbleUpon, perhaps those are more appropriate spaces in which to target people.

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Related posts:

1. The social nature of information