The revamped version of the once-popular online aggregation website, Digg, was launched this week. So far, there has been a mixed response from its users. However, what is evident is that the regular spammers and web marketers who used Digg for their own commercial purposes are disappointed; they hate the new Digg.
In a way, it’s a very positive sign. One of the chief reasons of Digg’s decline was that the website was taken over by spammers and web marketers who wanted traffic for their pages, whether or not those contained quality content. And they would use all kinds of tactics on Digg to drive traffic to their websites.
So naturally, now that the new Digg leaves little room for marketers and spammers to return to their dirty tricks, they are pissed. Neal Rodriguez, who was once a power-user of Digg and claims to have earned millions of page views with the help of social sharing site is unhappy over the new changes the revamped Digg incorporates. In the past, Rodriguez had been among the ones who suggested Digg to embrace the marketers.
In a blog post he wrote for Forbes, Rodriguez stated, “I’ve witnessed digital genocide. No user or common sense will dictate how the Digg website will be built or function. Although, I doubt they’ll listen, I will still write-up what I think they can do to fix the platform and keep it alive.” He also released a rather passionate video, trying to tell the team at Betaworks, the new owner of Digg, what they should include in the new Digg.
Other web marketers are equally enraged. However, the regular users are watching this with a gleam of hope, since this would mean that quality content can finally be found on Digg. Now, the stories on Digg will be placed according to their popularity on Twitter and Facebook and three editors are responsible for curating stories on the home page. This essentially would mean that the content going up on Digg will be monitored and no artificial gimmicks would be allowed to gain the top slots. The Digg team hopes that such changes in the design and policies of the social sharing site will help it revive the glory of its olden days.
Source: YouTube
Courtesy: The Verge
