{"id":19363,"date":"2016-11-18T16:37:16","date_gmt":"2016-11-18T21:37:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/digital.hbs.edu\/platform-rctom\/submission\/5-things-you-need-to-know-about-the-rise-and-fall-of-digg-com-5-will-shock-you\/"},"modified":"2016-11-18T16:44:24","modified_gmt":"2016-11-18T21:44:24","slug":"5-things-you-need-to-know-about-the-rise-and-fall-of-digg-com-5-will-shock-you","status":"publish","type":"hck-submission","link":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/submission\/5-things-you-need-to-know-about-the-rise-and-fall-of-digg-com-5-will-shock-you\/","title":{"rendered":"5 things you need to know about the rise and fall of Digg.com (#5 will shock you!)"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"clickbait\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Clickbaiting headline: the only reason why you\u2019re reading this post<\/em><\/p>\n

What is Digg?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Digg was launched in 2004 as a link\u00a0aggregator website. The platform enabled users to share web links and vote those links up (digg) or down (bury). The most up-voted links then showed up on the front page of the website. Essentially, Digg was supposed to replace traditional newspapers by creating a \u201cfront page\u201d of the internet.<\/p>\n

\"digg-frontpage\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Digg.com front page in 2008 (looks oddly familiar to Reddit.com today\u2026)<\/em><\/p>\n

Digg\u2019s success<\/strong><\/p>\n

In 2006, Kevin Rose, one of Digg\u2019s co-founder, was featured on the cover of BusinessWeek with the headline: \u201cHow this kid made $60 million in 18 months\u201d. At that time, the website was attracting close to 200 million unique visitors per year and was raising large amounts of capital from investors(1).<\/p>\n

\"digg_dv_20120713165434\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Kevin Rose, co-founder of Digg. Thumbs up before imminent failure!<\/em><\/p>\n

Digg\u2019s failure<\/strong><\/p>\n

In August 2010, Digg released a new version of the website code-named \u201cDigg v4\u201d. Shortly after, the number of visitors dropped by more than 50%(2), 40% of the staff was laid off (3) and Kevin Rose resigned (4).<\/p>\n

\"digg-launch-chart\"<\/a><\/p>\n

RIP Digg.com \ud83d\ude42<\/em><\/p>\n

5 digital challenges that Digg couldn\u2019t handle<\/strong><\/p>\n

So what exactly happened? Well, it turns out that digital challenges affect all businesses, not only traditional ones. Here are 5 digital challenges that Digg failed to address and what they should have done.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Users were abusing Digg\u2019s digital platform<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Even though Digg concept was initially very democratic (everybody could submit links and everybody could vote), it quickly became an oligarchy. The reason was the so called \u201cpower users\u201d: a select group of users who had disproportionate influence on votes because they were \u201cpopular\u201d. Every time a power user would submit a link to Digg, all its followers would up-vote the link. As a result, more than 50% of the front page was filled with power-user submitted links (6). Not very democratic!<\/p>\n

    \"power-users\"<\/a><\/p>\n

    Only 44% of Digg\u2019s frontpage was posted by non-power-users in December 2009<\/em><\/p>\n

    \u2192<\/strong> Solution:<\/strong><\/p>\n

    As always with digital platforms, people try to rig the system every time you give them a chance. A solution could have been to mimic 4chan.org\u2019s anonymous posting policy in order to reduce influence of individual users (7). When posting is anonymous, users are not incentivized to abuse the system for self-promotion or fame.<\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n

      \n
    1. Digg dug its own grave by changing its user interface<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      Digg v4 (released in 2010) removed widely popular features from the website, of which the ability to bury (downvote) posts, to save favorites, to sort by subcategories, to post videos, and to search history. These changes were implemented by the management team with no regards to user feedback or preferences. It resulted in a massive loss of visitors.<\/p>\n

      \u2192<\/strong> Solution:<\/strong><\/p>\n

      In a digital world, the user interface (UI) is key. Digg made radical changes to its UI and lost half of its userbase overnight, even though its core offering didn\u2019t really change. They should have beta-tested this new UI and actually listened to the feedback of early adopters who had voiced concerns before the deployment of v4 (8).<\/p>\n

       <\/p>\n

        \n
      1. Digg yielded to investor pressure<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

        \u201c\u2026 this new version of Digg reeks of VC meddling. It\u2019s cobbling together features from more popular sites and departing from the core of digg, which was to ‘give the power back to the people.’\u201d \u2013 Alexis Ohanian, co-founder of Reddit (competitor of Digg)<\/p>\n

        One of the reasons behind Digg\u2019s v4 fiasco were the VC investors who put pressure on Digg to generate profits (9). As a consequence, Digg tried to copy other more popular (and profitable) websites instead of sticking to its existing features. In addition, Digg changed its ranking algorithm in v4, and pushed \u201ccorporate sponsored\u201d articles to its frontpage:<\/p>\n

        \"paid-content\"<\/a><\/p>\n

        Over the few days that followed v4 launch in 2010, 56% of the frontpage was dominated by\u00a06 corporate\u00a0websites<\/em><\/p>\n

        \u2192<\/strong> Solution:<\/strong><\/p>\n

        Generating profit as a digital platform is hard. Taking shortcuts to get there is a losing strategy! Digg should have focused on its users rather than on its P&L. Reddit did it and is now #1 (and worth millions even though they\u2019re still losing money).<\/p>\n

         <\/p>\n

          \n
        1. Reddit copied Digg and got away with it<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

          Reddit was founded in 2005 and offered almost the exact same features as Digg. Contrary to Digg, however, they never changed their UI and were comfortable in losing money because they were acquired by Cond\u00e9 Nast Publications, who provided ample financial safety. When Digg v4 was released, Reddit welcomed Digg users (and even put a Digg logo on \u00a0their website to taunt them!)<\/p>\n

          \"reddit-frontpage\"<\/a><\/p>\n

          Reddit\u2019s frontpage. Looks exactly like Digg, yep.<\/em><\/p>\n

           <\/p>\n

          \"the-exodus\"<\/a><\/p>\n

          The great \u201cDigg Exodus\u201d when Digg users switched to Reddit<\/em><\/p>\n

          \u2192<\/strong> Solution:<\/strong><\/p>\n

          Digital platforms are very competitive by nature: any new entrant can replicate your website overnight. What it can\u2019t replicate is the user base and the community, and this is what Digg should have protected above all (instead of changing the UI to make it mainstream).<\/p>\n

           <\/p>\n

            \n
          1. There\u2019s no 5 [SHOCKER!] \u2013 Digg failed because Digg failed<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

            In social platforms, there is a part of luck and timing that you just cannot control. Maybe Digg\u2019s community was not meant to last because it was too \u201cniche\u201d. In the end, no one can predict if a social website is going to be successful or if it\u2019s going to fail: Facebook popularity was a surprise to Zuckerberg, MySpace disappeared for no obvious reason, Twitter was originally meant to be a SMS service, 4chan was supposed to just be an image board\u2026<\/p>\n

             <\/p>\n

            Sources<\/strong><\/p>\n

              \n
            1. https:\/\/siteanalytics.compete.com\/digg.com\/?metric=uv<\/a><\/li>\n
            2. http:\/\/mashable.com\/2010\/09\/24\/digg-traffic-stats\/#3gt4K1v8akqM<\/a><\/li>\n
            3. https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/2010\/10\/25\/digg-to-lay-off-37-percentof-staff\/<\/a><\/li>\n
            4. http:\/\/mashable.com\/2011\/03\/18\/kevin-rose-resigns-from-digg-report\/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Mashable+%28Mashable%29#3gt4K1v8akqM<\/a><\/li>\n
            5. https:\/\/gigaom.com\/2010\/08\/26\/digg-redesign-met-with-a-thumbs-down\/<\/a><\/li>\n
            6. https:\/\/medium.com\/social-news\/the-death-of-digg-still-lingers-for-former-power-users-aa584de7770#.vu1ns8n8b*<\/a><\/li>\n
            7. https:\/\/www.ted.com\/talks\/christopher_m00t_poole_the_case_for_anonymity_online<\/a><\/li>\n
            8. http:\/\/venturebeat.com\/2010\/08\/30\/diggs-top-user-warned-of-possible-backlash-months-ago\/<\/a><\/li>\n
            9. http:\/\/www.alwaysbeupgrading.com\/diggs-downfall\/<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

               <\/p>\n

              (788 words)<\/p>\n

               <\/p>\n

               <\/p>\n

               <\/p>\n

               <\/p>\n

               <\/p>\n

               <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

              Digg.com, a very successful social platform that disrupted the news industry, completely redesigned its website in August 2010. You won't believe what happened next! 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