The Best Digg Tools, Reality Edition

Digg ToolsOne of the best parts about my job is that I get to talk to a lot of the top users over at Digg.  This is important because the Digg algorithm is always in a constant state of tweak (a statement that can be construed properly several different ways).  It changes as fast as, if not faster than, Google and other search engines.  Two questions always pop up with either me asking top users or other users asking me:

“What does it take to get to the front page?”

The answer has two parts: time and tools.  We can go into the time issue later, but for now, let’s assume that you have the time.  The second question is:

“What are the right tools?”

There are dozens of lists of Digg tools out there.  Most of them are nice and quaint, but do top users really use them.  Normally, no.  Here are the tools that they do use.  Some are obviously loose interpretations of the word “tools” but anything that helps to achieve the goal of hitting the front page often should be listed. [Read more...]

Digg Brings Diversity Back to the Front Page

Diversity on DiggWhen the Recommendation Engine was first introduced on June 30, 2008, the front page was instantly transformed into a 20-man show.  During the first week of July, 31% of the front page stories were submitted by 10 people and 51% were submitted by 28.

By its very nature, the Recommendation Engine pushed these numbers even higher.  The more a submitter’s stories were Dugg, the more they would be recommended, which would get them more Diggs, which brought more recommendations – in essence, it snowballed for heavy submitters with lots of friends until its peak in the first half of August when 46% of the front page stories were submitted by 14 users.  The top 30 users controlled over 2/3rds of the front page. [Read more...]

How to be a Part-Timer and Still Hit the Front Page

Front PageMost people who submit content to social media websites like Digg, Reddit, Mixx, or Propeller do so because they believe what they are submitting is worthy of making it to the front page where it can be viewed by a gazillion people.  It could be something that interests them from the news.  Perhaps it’s a story they worked exceptionally hard on from their blog.  Maybe it’s a hilarious video they found.

So, new to the world of social media, they submit it and wait for their name to appear in the popular section.  It’s a great story, afterall.  However, in most cases, it does not make the front page.  Undaunted, they try again.  And again.  Eventually they start to look at what hits the front page and they see a discouraging trend — the same names keep popping up, and it isn’t theirs.

What do they do?  They click on a profile.  At Digg, they might click on Suxmonkey, a front page regular.  They scan down to the stats and their eyes pop out of their head.  34,000 Diggs!  Oh ____!  Perhaps they check out Reddit next and click on QGYH2 to see a karma score over 100K.  Moving right along to Propeller, they check the Top Contributors section to find that they’ve all submitted hundreds, even thousands of stories and comments.

If you are one of these people, don’t give up!  You don’t have to spend hours a day, every day, to become a regular to the front page of social media websites.  You simply need a strategy that fits your schedule. [Read more...]