Update: Digg CEO Jay Adelson says Digg is working on a new search tool. Dan Frommer references a Facebook Status update from Adelson: “Playing with the yet-to-be-released new Digg search…holy crap…Sammy kicked ass on this one. Filled with awesomeness.”
Original Article: It used to be when you read about Digg, it was full of enthusiasm. In 2009, it seems like the majority of Digg discussion carries an attitude that is less thrilled.
Since the beginning of the year, unique visitors have been declining for the first time since a short period last summer according to data from Compete. That’s not to say it won’t bounce right back like it has in the past, but gripes continue to circulate throughout the web.
In reality, Digg-griping is nothing new. Users have frequently complained for quite some time about power users dominating, and power users have complained about being punished for being loyal. Digg just can’t win. All companies know that they can’t please everyone though.
But it doesn’t help when lists like this one from Soshable.com indicate that nearly half of all Digg front page stories come from the same group of sites:
Gerald Weber at Search Engine Journal also talks about Digg secretly auto burying certain user submissions and then removing personal links from personal profiles, making the site less social. Shortly after they added the links back, but it was just enough to create some far-from-needed negative buzz.
The year is still early and Digg has big plans.
Kevin Rose included “build a better Digg” on his list of New Year’s resolutions. In January, Digg CEO Jay Adelson announced the following priorities for the year:
– Rolling out new features to grow and engage our community
– Building on our advertising infrastructure
– Building on our successful partnership with Microsoft
– Ongoing sponsorship opportunities
– Ongoing publisher and trade partnerships
An enhanced toolbar is also on the way that could challenge StumbleUpon and even TinyURL, a popular service in the Twitterverse. It will be interesting to see if the Digg enthusiasm returns.
