A Newcomer’s Take on Digg

October 12, 2008 By JD Rucker 9 Comments

This is an EXCELLENT Guest Post by Kathryn Smith, proudly posted to Soshable

DiggYes, that’s right—I’m admitting up front that I’m a dreaded “noob”. I have neither a blog nor a website, and I’ll freely confess to being pretty much in the dark about most technology and the thing that is Web 2.0. (Or, to paraphrase a popular ad campaign, I’m a 43-year old female PC.)

However, since I didn’t wish to maintain my uninformed, ignoramus status, I decided to join Digg on July 31, 2008. At first, I thought the site was a great idea; so, I fumbled around a bit, trying to learn how the site worked. I tried to make friends on my own, but my requests were rarely accepted. One of the first comments I made in a thread, a simple compliment on the topic, was replied to with, “I checked your profile. Buried for your face, faggot. STFU, noob.”

Needless to say, this didn’t endear me to the site. I almost left within the first few days of joining. I was also greeted on some comment threads with, “Don’t digg this, it’s old as hell.” Well, as a new member, I hadn’t seen it. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Digg Tagged With: , , , ,

Pwned: The StumbleUpon Digg Experiment Initial Results

September 5, 2008 By JD Rucker 23 Comments

First, a disclaimer about this experiment and the analysis.

In retrospect, this experiment was flawed.  The subject matter and style of delivery was very clearly geared in favor of one of the combatants.  When it was initially conceived, it was decided that the experiment would best be delivered through a post that announced itself.  By checking traffic statistics on a post titled: “The StumbleUpon Digg Experiment”, there would be equal billing, equal exposure, and most importantly, equal chances through the delivery methods to give both sides a chance.

We were wrong. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Digg, Social Internet, Social Marketing, Social Media, Social Media Marketing, StumbleUpon Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,

12 Signs that You May Be a Social Media Addict

September 2, 2008 By JD Rucker 29 Comments

Cute Dog PicThere are many social media addicts in this world.  You see it every day on Digg, Reddit, StumbleUpon.  Even Propeller, Mixx, and Newsvine have their share.  What you may or may not know is whether or not you are one of them.

It’s often tough to recognize.  Perhaps the joy of seeing your first story on the front page of the site was enough to set you off.  Maybe it’s a desire to promote your point of view, a political candidate, even your own blog or business.  For some, it’s something that passes the time (until too much time has passed).  Read these signs below and seek immediate help if 3 or more apply to you. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Digg, Featured, Mixx, Reddit, Social Media, StumbleUpon Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

Front Page Addiction: Destroying Families, Ruining Lives

August 31, 2008 By JD Rucker 20 Comments

*** As my first real parody piece, I am moving this up in the blog to see if it gets more comment luv. ***

A little-known but dangerous epidemic is spreading across members of social media websites like Digg, Reddit, Propeller, Newsvine, and Mixx.  Like a secret scourge, SM-FPA (social media front page addiction) isn’t making national headines yet, but the effects have been felt in thousands of households across the world.

“Ever since my wife’s submission hit the front page of Reddit last month, we only see her on the way to the bathroom,” said Jake Dixon.  His wife Amber, better known as “diggwho”, made the front page of Reddit with a story titled Bush makes more people mad by saying something stupid.  Since then, Amber has been submitting 15-25 stories per day and has a submission hit the front page 3-5 times per week.  She declined to be interviewed.

Research scientists at the Social Media Institute of Technology (SMIT) in Kolkata, India, say that Mr. Dixon and his family are not alone.  They have documented 342 confirmed cases of SM-FPA in 2007 and estimate the actual number in the thousands. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Social Internet, Social Marketing, Social Media Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

The StumbleUpon Digg Experiment

August 29, 2008 By JD Rucker 76 Comments

DiggStumbleUpon(The results are in.  Read them at StumbleUpon vs Digg).

Bloggers and webmasters out there who watch their traffic as closely as we do have been amazed by the “Stumble Effect”.  Many know about the sudden burst of traffic that comes from the “Digg Effect” when a submission reaches the front page of Digg (or even better, if it reaches the “Top in All…” section on the frontpage).  This is normally a day of joy (or terror if your server bombs) followed by limited tricklings of traffic.

Stumble has a different, more steady infusion of traffic that it can send to a website that gets stumbled, especially if it is hit by multiple top users.  The effect is sustained, but more importantly, can be rejuvinated by a thumbs up and/or review by the right person/people.

Digg, on the other hand, has the advantage of having “controlled” traffic.  Anyone watching their posts as they’re submitted and rising on Digg can pinpoint if and approximately when their page will go popular.  You know when the traffic is coming and you know when it will stop. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Digg, Social Internet, Social Marketing, Social Media, Social Media Marketing, StumbleUpon Tagged With: , , , , ,

I Stumble. Got a problem with it?

August 8, 2008 By JD Rucker 8 Comments

I Stumble [Read more...]

Filed Under: Social Internet, StumbleUpon Tagged With: , ,

Impeachment Coverage – Who got it fastest?

June 9, 2008 By JD Rucker 1 Comment

Social News SitesWhen the news wires started buzzing, burning, and smoking about Dennis Kucinich introducing 35 letters of impeachment against President George W. Bush, we started watching the three top social media sites to see who would get the news the quickest to their front page.

As of the time of this post, it was broken 3 hours, 33 minutes ago.  We started watching the front pages of Digg, Reddit, Propeller, Newsvine, and Mixx just over 3 hours ago.  Here are the results: [Read more...]

Filed Under: Digg, Mixx, Newsvine, Propeller, Reddit, Social Media Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , ,

How Digg is Dropping the Ball (limited to 3 issues, begrudgingly)

March 24, 2008 By JD Rucker 13 Comments

Thumbs Up DiggIt’s been nearly a year now, but when Kevin Rose boldly announced that “you’ve made it clear” and “If we lose, then what the hell, at least we died trying,” in regards to the the HD-DVD key that was published everywhere, Digg was on top of the social media world with a true opportunity to be the site “for the people.”  While the move to ignore a cease and desist declaration was a bit less bold than most understood at the time (it was everywhere at that point), it was still a public relations goldmine that Digg could have very easily parlayed into perpetual success.  They just had to do one thing…

Listen to your people and deliver what they want.

Over the last year, Digg has focused on several issues.  While all of these have importance, Digg has paid these issues more than enough attention.  In most cases, they’ve paid too much attention them. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Digg, Social Freshness, Social Media Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Social Media Outcry Brings Competition to the Table

March 2, 2008 By JD Rucker 4 Comments

The negative comments to this post are already coming.  I can feel it.  Why?  Because I am about to be completely ambiguous and talk theoretically, even though I have knowledge that the things I’m about to discuss are facts.

Ever since Digg, Slashdot, and the other early social news sites took hold of a new market on the internet, there have been clones and competitors popping up left and right.  The next “Digg Killer” has emerged and subsequently fallen almost every week for the last couple of years.  Newer networks have been proposed, many are getting worked on, and I know a lot about some, little about others. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Digg, Mixx, Propeller, Reddit, Social Media Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

Linkjacking is Good, Bad, and Ugly

February 18, 2008 By JD Rucker 12 Comments

Linkjacking means different things to different people.  Many see it as using the content on one site as the bait to get viewers to pass through your site, or even stay there and explore without going on to the primary content.  Most of the time, there will be tidbits or summary information about the primary story accompanied by an interesting image or bit of photoshop magic that takes up most of the page.

To many, including Urban Dictionary, a true “linkjacking” requires that a person from the website doing the linkjacking also submits the story to an aggregator such as Reddit or Digg to drive traffic.  I believe that websites and blogs that have a strong enough following to be able to “assume” someone will submit the story are also linkjacking, even if they are not the one’s doing the submitting.

The idea is to generate traffic from social media sites and even the search engines without having to write a ton of original content or do the research.  Here is an example of a website that I like a lot, Engadget, which is notorious for linkjacking: [Read more...]

Filed Under: Digg, Featured, Reddit, Social Freshness, Social Media Tagged With: , , , , , ,
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