Last week, Digg unleashed the much-anticipated DiggBar. It’s basically a StumbleUpon-like toolbar that sits at the top of your browser as you view content from Digg (and it comes equipped with a URL shortener).
DiggBar from Kevin Rose on Vimeo.
While the average Digg user will probably find lots to like about the DiggBar in terms of simply using the features, marketers and webmasters concerned about traffic have not all been so enthused.
There has been a great amount of concern that Digg has started hoarding all of the traffic for itself. After all, viewing a page with the DiggBar keeps that page at a Digg-based URL. The cause for concern might not be so great though.
Mike Arrington at TechCrunch notes, “For most purposes those sites won’t care. The page is still rendered and includes the advertising. The way most internal analytics software works means that page views will still be counted. But some services, like Comscore, won’t necessarily see the visit to the site, and will penalize the domain name.”
An article from Brian X. Chen at Wired provides some insight from social media all-star Brent Csutoras, that should set some minds at ease.
As for content providers, Csutoras said the DiggBar will only improve traffic to their sites. He noted that the DiggBar features buttons to share Digg links via Facebook, Twitter and e-mail. He said there also shouldn’t be a risk of hijacking traffic: Even though the DiggBar keeps a user at Digg, the content provider’s site is displayed in an inline frame, meaning it still receives a page view and the proper ad revenue for each click.
It’s understandable that the idea of Digg taking all of your traffic would cause some concern, particularly if you are in the business of making money from your content. But the DiggBar might actually be helping your cause. And let’s not forget the amount of exposure your content can get by simply being included in Digg to begin with.
What do you think about the DiggBar? Tell us.
Have you noticed a change in traffic? Good or bad?
