The StumbleUpon Digg Experiment

August 29, 2008 by 83 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 8 Comments

I Stumble [Read more...]

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

Impeachment Coverage – Who got it fastest?

June 9, 2008 by 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 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 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 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: , , , , , ,

What Failed: The Digg Algorithm or the Digg Users?

February 3, 2008 by 7 Comments

Digg Super BowlIt took around 600 Diggs to get the story Super Bowl XLII Champions New York Giants promoted to the front page.  Are the recent changes in the algorithm the reason?  More importantly, is this a case where the algorithm was doing the “right thing” but was overpowered by the sheer bulk of Diggs?

It took 34 minutes for the story to be promoted from upcoming.  During that time, the Ajaxonomy Bury Recorder showed it to have 17 buries (which means it had a lot more than that).  That could be a reason for it taking so many, but let’s explore further.  This is a screenshot of the Upcoming 45 seconds after it hit the front page. [Read more...]

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

Best Advice for Mixx: Stop Following Digg

January 27, 2008 by 9 Comments

This won’t be a popular article.  It can’t be Dugg because it mentions Mixx and it can’t be Mixxed because it seems to lean towards being critical.  In hopes of my true feelings being expressed and understood, let me say that I love Digg and I love Mixx.  Both are the best at what they do.

What do they do?  Digg serves up the ultimate in news niblets for us to ingest at our leisure.  It grants incredible exposure to quality content and helps blogs, large and small, to pop up on someone’s screen who never would have visited otherwise.  This doesn’t even touch on the other recipients such as YouTube, Flickr, and traditional news sources online.

Mixx does the same thing, right?  Well, sort of.  Mixx does offer the same type of quality content.  It does grant exposure, but not on the same scale (or in the same ballpark) as Digg.  Still, its strength lies in the people and their attitudes.  For the most part, Mixx is a much more social and sociable platform that Digg or any of its clones. [Read more...]

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

Bogus Lawsuits, Wins and Losses, Don’t Buy It, and Other Recent News About Digg

January 5, 2008 by 1 Comment

DiggDigg.com is always a popular topic on blogs and tech news sites, but recently, it’s been the word of the day.  Instead of posting links to dozens of stories, we’ve hand-picked and summarized some of the best ones over the last couple of weeks.  Some are funny, some are sad, but no matter what, Digg is in the news. [Read more...]

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

Going Social for Marketing, Business, and Fun

January 1, 2008 by 10 Comments

porkfriedsocial.comSocial Media Marketing isn’t new. 2008 is simply the year that it emerges as THE thing to do if you want your business, charity, or blog to be “in” instead of “out”.

With companies that aren’t traditionally forward thinking in their marketing techniques, such as Ford Motor Company and Starbucks, making a push to enter social media marketing, it is clear that both big and small business are starting to take notice. Even local businesses are approaching anyone knowledgeable they can find on the subject to help them.

Below are some of the social media initiatives and trends from 2007 that tell of things to come in 2008. First, there are ways to create a web presence that goes beyond building a website or a blog. Then there are ways to drive traffic through social media to these websites. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Digg, Mixx, Newsvine, Niche Social Networks, Propeller, Reddit, Social Internet, Social Marketing, Social Media, Social Media Marketing, Social Videos-Images-Music, StartUps, StumbleUpon Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
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