The Digg Algorithm has Changed
Posted on January 22, 2008
Filed Under Digg, Social Media
Digg went down today for a short time. The results may be that many diggers will go down for a long time. It could be just a glitch as the algo is tweaked. We’ll know more over the next day or two.
Here are some things that seem to have changed since the site was brought down for maintenance:
- This time yesteraday, 6 stories were promoted in 20 minutes. This seems to fall into the norm for a weekday around 4pm PST. The relative high traffic brings more stories to the front. As of the time of this post, 12 stories have been promoted in the last 4 hours — an average of 1 every 20 minutes.
- Normally, stories would go popular in 10 minute intervals with occasional variations. Now, it seems that stories are promoted in real time, as there is no rhyme or reason to the timing of promotion to the front page.
- Currently, there are 10 stories that are over 100 that aren’t buried from the upcoming but still haven’t been promoted. This isn’t brand new, but has been happening for a couple of days now. The real change lately is that it isn’t just top Diggers…
- oboy has never had story go over 80 without hitting the homepage and DigiDave hasn’t had anything recently do the same. Today, both hit over 125, were not buried off of the upcoming list, but didn’t make the front page. One was from an established website, one was from a new one.
- The “Hot in All Topics” section has some new names on it. Actually, almost all are new. Some are very new, having joined today, submitted something, and left. No Avatar. No comments. 1 other Digg. As of the time of this article, Pizzler is the only recognizeable name on the list. In fact, the other nine submitters who are on the “Hot in All” section have a combined 7 stories that have hit the front page before.
There is more data, but it will have to be verified tonight. In the meantime, everything listed above is fact, and clearly points to a change. I will discuss this with others and do more research, but one thing is clear.
There’s a glitch in the Matrix.
The real question is, why?
(we have some theories on that as well, but we’ll post them tomorrow at soshable)
* * *
Comments
44 Responses to “The Digg Algorithm has Changed”
Leave a Reply
We Love Subscribers!
The reason why there are so many changes is that Digg is becoming desperate in trying to find a way to stop their users from hightailing it over to Mixx (Mixx.com). Look at Digg’s traffic stats from the past three months. Since Mixx came on to the scene, Digg has fallen into a slow and steady down-slide in all measurable categories of user activity.
One reason that a lot of people were leaving is that Digg voters base their votes more on who submitted a story than on the quality of the content itself. This has disoriented a lot of Digg’s newer users who don’t have hundreds of friends but who nonetheless wish to participate in the system and the community. Digg has not accommodated those users, and Mixx has. It’s as simple as that.
Lester, that’s very insightful. “Digg Refugees” are heading in many directions. Another Digg revolt has been speculated about on several blogs recently, and there are those who are leaving.
Still, I think one of the reasons for the change is to try to combat this, to make it to where newer or less active Digg members can enjoy some front page spotlight. We’ll see if it works.
I personally use Digg, Reddit, Stumble, Mixx, Propeller, Newsvine, and recently I started trying Tagsum, Plime, and a couple of others. Each has advantages, but I must admit, Mixx has a lot of appeal.
Well said Fatlester that sounds dead on to me !!
Er, people haven’t been leaving Digg in droves.
http://siteanalytics.compete.com/mixx.com+digg.com/?metric=uv
Nor have they been disappearing off to ‘Mixx’ in droves. Digg has retained the same traffic it has always had, if anything it’s gone up to almost 50 million hits per month: not bad
Here is the new algorithm:
if headline.contains(”Ron Paul”)
{
story.delete();
}
Digg’s popularity hasn’t declined, you dolts.
http://www.alexa.com/data/details/traffic_details/digg.com?site0=digg.com&site1=mixx.com&site2=reddit.com&y=r&z=3&h=300&w=610&range=3y&size=Medium
as well as Google trends:
http://www.google.com/trends?q=digg%2C+mixx%2C+reddit
That’s some algorithm. Right on the button.
I think that Digg has gotten worse though but it’s been going on for a while now, having the home page half filled with videos to view really makes it less useful.
I’ve noticed suddenly stories I submit take over 150 diggs in 24 hours. It used to be around 60-80. I’ve had multiple stories with a huge number of diggs that won’t go, while I’ve seen articles with 20 diggs hit the frontpage. It’s nuts
http://www.spymac.com/details/?2334927
[…] a glitch in the Matrix!! Save your souls diggers..read more | digg […]
[…] wide distribution through Digg, thus erasing one of the key value points of the system. Soshable has one of the better organized enumeration of reasons why the new algorithm changes aren’t that great: This time yesteraday, 6 stories were […]
[…] wide distribution through Digg, thus erasing one of the key value points of the system. Soshable has one of the better organized enumeration of reasons why the new algorithm changes aren’t that great: This time yesteraday, 6 stories were […]
[…] wide distribution through Digg, thus erasing one of the key value points of the system. Soshable has one of the better organized enumeration of reasons why the new algorithm changes aren’t that great: This time yesteraday, 6 stories were […]
Digg is like your favorite sports team. You care about it and feel loyal to it, yet it can give two shits about you.
[…] what’s going on. The math takes time to aggregate.” (Lesson: Stop noticing things the second that they […]
I’m in the process of developing a social networking site that is truly for the people. It isn’t complete yet but anyone and everyone is more then welcome to check it out. I welcome all feedback, suggestions, requests, comments, etc…
OnLate.com | Are you OnLate?
[…] wide distribution through Digg, thus erasing one of the key value points of the system. Soshable has one of the better organized enumeration of reasons why the new algorithm changes aren’t that great: This time yesteraday, 6 stories were […]
[…] up yesterday, i saw that a friend’s observations on the algorithm were already on the front page of digg and were prompting a lot of discussion. furthermore, a […]
[…] and different blogs critical of Digg popped up everywhere. Blogs such as Brent, Bablin55, and Soshable created a lot of noise. (Coincidentally my post about “blind digging” was posted at […]
[…] - The Digg Algorithm has Changed "Digg went down today for a short time. The results may be that many diggers will go […]
I can tell you why I think it is. There has been a growing chorus of people who think the Digg results are decreasing in quality and that a lot of complete rubbish is being Dugg to the top for no real reason. Perhaps the Digg people are losing users and they realise that to retain their credibility they have to improve the quality of their results.
Or perhaps they want to take the control of the site away from a small number of very well connected super-diggers who are pushing loads of decidedly average links to the front page.
I have a simple idea that might help. What if the more you digg the less your diggs were worth? That way well networked diggers who pushed each other stories to the top all the time would have less control over the results.
[…] to soshable Digg have changed their algorithm. I have a feeling that they have changed the algorithm because […]
[…] doubt Digg.com is a popular community site. And the recent change seems make the whole community angry. You need over 200 Diggs in order to get on top of the front […]
[…] wide distribution through Digg, thus erasing one of the key value points of the system. Soshable has one of the better organized enumeration of reasons why the new algorithm changes aren’t that great: This time yesteraday, 6 stories were […]
[…] http://revoltnation.blogspot.com/2008/01/digg-is-game-lets-play-for-real-this.html http://soshable.com/digg-algorithm-change/ http://babblin5.com/2008/01/23/two-diggs-one-cup/ […]
[…] » The Digg Algorithm Change […]
[…] am sure you have read or listened to the hoopla going on over at Digg, If you haven’t to sum it up, Digg wants to even the playing field by tweaking the […]
[…] should’ve at least noticed the revolt that has been going on lately on digg. The digg guys toughened the game for the top diggers to get stories to the frontpage. In other words, they now need, in […]
[…] 25th, 2008 by admin in Uncategorized I am sure you have read or listened to the hoopla going on over at Digg, If you haven’t to sum it up, Digg wants to even the playing field by tweaking the […]
[…] Good reads for the day 25Jan08 Digg has made pretty large changes to their algorythm and upset a lot of people. Essentially votes f… […]
[…] Problems at Digg with the Algorithm […]
[…] The Digg Algorithm has Changed (tags: digg top+digg+users community) […]
Post trackbacks and comments to remote blogs automatically with Trackback Submitter! This tool will submit your comments to millions of blogs automatically. Trackback Submitter - the most powerful tool on the planet to submit trackbacks automatically!
[…] made waves this week by tweaking their algorithm and ticking off some power users. This new algorithm seems to skew the front page and push power users into the background, even if […]
I don’t understand those denying Digg is losing ground. Sure the charts look flat but that’s what happens when you deal with very large numbers against very small numbers.
At compete they show a 1.3% decrease against over 7Million Views. That means they lost almost twice the total readership that Mixx has.
Considering Alexa shows a 6% decline the loss may be worse than that.
Cheers,
John
Very interesting thoughts regarding g Algorithm has Changed | Soshable | Social Media Blog. But would you like to submit comments and backlinks on millions of blogs automatically? Blog Comment Poster will do it for you. Blog Comment Poster will increase your traffic, backlinks and earnings dramatically! Sounds cool? Yes, it is… the best automated comments posting tool on the Internet with many advanced features
Thanks for sharing
[…] up yesterday, i saw that a friend’s observations on the algorithm were already on the front page of digg and were prompting a lot of discussion. furthermore, a […]
I’d prefer reading in my native language, because my knowledge of your languange is no so well. But it was interesting! Look for some my links:
could you be a little clearer on %keywords% please.
[…] am sure you have read or listened to the hoopla going on over at Digg, If you haven’t to sum it up, Digg wants to even the playing field by tweaking the […]
[…] Problems at Digg with the Algorithm […]
[…] read more | digg story […]
[…] am sure you have read or listened to the hoopla going on over at Digg, If you haven’t to sum it up, Digg wants to even the playing field by tweaking the […]