(Disclaimer at the bottom of this post)

The following is a plea to the Digg community and staff. Let’s recognize we have a problem on our hands and figure out what to do next. If we ignore this problem – we only compound it.

Digg could go the way of MySpace if it doesn’t address its functionality problems and get rid of the “corruption that is becoming rampant,” according to several top submitters that I spoke with (all ranked above 100, some ranked above 30).

Shortly after Digg launched new social networking features a few months ago, the community began to dynamically shift how members could communicate with each other. (Put that in the “duh” category. It’s a social network now!)

With a change in how people shared links, the manner in which stories reached the front page dramatically altered. I noticed it right away and it began very innocently with IM-ing links back and forth. But today it has become rampant. One digger confided in me “At the very least they are setting a bad example. The new breed of Digg active submitters will know nothing else of submitting and social news other than: Get your ass on IM and spam away.”

I want to say right now, I don’t advocate forcing Diggers to become anonymous, nor do I think it’s wrong/bad to talk with other Diggers off-site. Some of the most interesting people I’ve met online have been fellow social bookmarkers.

And I totally understand the desire, while talking with another Digger, to share a link and ask for a vote. I do it too. But when I see that a story submitted 15 minutes ago has 23 votes – I wonder exactly how the story is being passed around? In a conversation or in an organized IM ring?

The problem starts when IM becomes an easier way to vote for stories than actually going to Digg itself.

From what I can tell, this all started when the site removed the “Digg This” button, which meant you had to

click twice in order to vote for a story. Combine that with Digg’s incredibly slow load speed and overall buggyness and soon it take 60+ minutes if you want to vote on your friends stories. I almost
stopped voting altogether. The tech-savvy will tell you that with a greasemonkey script you can add the “Digg This” functionality back, but I doubt the majority of users have this installed – and the fact of the matter is, that won’t stop the ethos of IM-circles that started when along with this change you could post your IM information on your Digg account user profile.

What began innocently as sharing links via IM has turned into the main organizing tool to game Digg, promoting spam, crappy content and generally making it difficult for anybody with a 9-5 job to really participate in the community.

“It’s so true. It really is the unspoken secret of Digg. Content matters less than how you get your story up. I hate this necessary evil” said a Top 30 Submitter to Digg.

According to the top Diggers I spoke with, IM has become the main tool used to form circles of Diggers that all promote each others stuff regardless of the content. The Digg community used to complain that only “Top Diggers” could on the front
page. Now, however, anyone can get on the front page if they take the time to organize a ring of IM Diggers, a practice that is becoming commonplace.

And the IM’s started pouring in.

“I have at least two or three new people IM me every day ever since digg added the “social” features to the site,” said another top digger. Some of these random IM’s have turned into real internet friendships. Again, this isn’t a vendetta against IM-ing, which is a great tool. Digg, however, needs to find a way to take these circles into account because they have dynamically changed the nature of Digg and who can participate on a competitive level. So far, Digg has changed its promotion algorithm, but according to some this has only made it harder for historically successful contributors to make it to the front page, and these are the contributors who have made Digg what it is – a place to find quality content on the front page. “The algorithm is
‘punishing’ the active submitters. Those high Digg-to-front -page ratios you see all the time, 120, 140, 160, Diggs to a front page? I think it’s a DIRECT response to what the algorithem catches as IM spamming,” said TomBoy501.

It’s a mild form of gaming the system, but this slippery slope of IMing has also led to the creation of multiple user accounts. There are a few accounts that are allegedly owned by one prominent submitter. These 3-4 accounts, which all begin with a number followed by the name (ie: 12Tommy) are owned by one person, but used by people in countries around the world – all in an elaborate scheme to promote content on Digg.

The Future of Social News: Form Follows Function

The reason this concerns me: I have always loved the concept behind social news sites. I believe in citizen media and engaging people in the creation and distribution of the news and Digg was the first to really empower people to share bookmarks. Because it is such a grand experiment, I want Digg to succeed. But as the site looses functionality, and IM-circles rule the day, the relevancy of Digg in engaging people in the news is becoming weaker and weaker. Now it doesn’t engage news-hungry users, but greedy webmasters or struggling startups that employ friends and colleagues to game Digg.

I think some serious alternatives are on the horizon. Google Reader, for example, now has a sharing function.

ParisLemon writes: I definitely believe this social Google Reader can be very powerful if networked together correctly – potentially even much more powerful than Digg and the like. Lets start using these Google Profiles and sharing with each other!

Then there is StumbleUpon: I’ve known about it for a long time. Joined a week ago because of my frustration with Digg. and niche sites like GlobalVote or DoTheRightThing – for people who want social change (I’m sure there are tons of niche social bookmarking sites via Pligg.) And of course my disclaimer at the bottom, which I won’t promote wildly in this post, but will say…it’s an option.

In truth – it doesn’t matter what the alternative is: Digg is the great experiment in this arena and it
continues to set the pace.

If Digg fails – it means we, the netizens, fail. The community has grown tremendously and perhaps the site expanded too quickly. We need to decide – is this going to be a space to democratically share links – or a place to game links to the front page because it suits our needs. The form will follow our function.
——
Disclaimer: Before I start any post critical of a social news site – I start with a disclaimer. I am a Propeller scout and a contributing editor for the nonprofit social news site NewsTrust.net. I got that way because I love social news for its potential, not because I am a corporate sellout that wants to advertise Propeller or NewsTrust at all costs. So take the following for what it is – an honest assessment – not representative of any employers’ view.