SEOPedia has a great summation or FAQ about how Digg works, and the influence of some of the algorithm changes that they have implemented in the last month. While there are a lot of folks who try to game Digg, and get spam to the front page, many of us smaller, single site posters like Ittoolbox, who have a great Google Page Rank overall, but lower page ranks for individual bloggers have gotten caught up in the changes.
While this is an unofficial FAQ, Digg does not post their own to deter cheating, it does make an interesting view point into how the Digg system works. While most people will say that it is users who bury stories, and that it is users who control the system, after the AACS issue I would tend to agree. That if you hit a populist “people against evil corporation” you will get traction in the Digg community.
But if you are a single site poster, like Techwag with no page rank yet, or individual posters on ITToolbox or other sites like SEOBlog who do one or two articles a day, the changes to Digg do influence how those articles are rated. On the other hand, how those articles are viewed by the system, including how votes happen. Articles that are unique and original are labeled as spam, although no one is selling Viagra or touting the latest MLM make money NOW!!!! Scam.
Realistically, my friends are prolific writers, and I do not have time to read them all, but I should be able to vote on them rapidly, not going to happen any more with some of the voting changes.
This is not an attempt to game the system, they are bloggers who have interesting things to say, or part of a community of bloggers, and we all do support each other in a very social way, which is what Digg is all about. You vote on your friends stuff, and other stuff that you find cool.
If you read Donna Bogatin who talks about Digg over on ZDNet Blogs, she has a commentary section and a vote system, where as of this morning 81% of people who have taken her poll, think that Digg is no longer being democratic.
This is where it gets interesting, with the changes in the system, and the general belief now that Digg is undemocratic amongst some folks, countered with the idea that gaming the Digg system is part of the process, has Digg gone over the edge and is now no longer relevant because of the perception that Digg is no longer, buy appearances, what it started out to be?
Digg will still play an important role for a while, but as Digg traffic to single site posters tapers off, the reward is not there anymore, and they will go elsewhere. Places like Yasvs, or Digg-Like (if you want a catalog of Digg Clones) who then promise that they are “let the buyer beware” kinds of democratic sites. Have to wait and see, and no one is saying that Digg is dead nor that it is likely to die any time soon.
The great part is that by using Pligg, you can make your own Digg Like site, and just have some fun with it.
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