There are an abundance of bookmarking sites available today. I decided to wax eloquent on Digg.com because Larry Brauner wanted to know what all his Facebook friends’ favorite service was. They have a great community and this is the first site I choose to use now when I see an item on the internet that begs “digging”.
What is Digg?
Digg is a social media news website that gives users the ability to share content from anywhere on the web. Users can submit links to stories and news items they find interesting, and vote and comment on links submitted by others.The popularity of an item is determined by users who have voted it up (called digging) or voted it down (called burying) using the toolbar that appears at the top of every user-submitted page or just browsing the links throughout the website itself.
The homepage of Digg.com contains the most “Dugg” stories and there are many options to filter and browse through everything the site has collected in the 5 years since they began.
Why do people love Digg?
Many people just love the little Digg guy with his shovel. For me, I think it connects with the gardener in me. I love to dig. Give me a shovel, some soft fertile garden dirt in the warmth of the summer, a few plants and flowers, and I’ll be a happy little digger. Yeah, ok, I’m a dork.
Another reason people use Digg.com is the ease of submission. That hard working little Digg guy gets to work and looks to make sure someone else hasn’t already dug my submission. If they did, all I have to do is click DIGG! to add my vote to the rest and add that link to my Digg.com account. If they didn’t, the process for me to be the first to Digg is easy and painless. A nice 2 step process is presented to you.
Step One: a. Enter the link. b. Pick the type of link.
Step Two: a. Enter a decent eye catching, clear and concise title. b. Add your “review” or description of the story to further enhance the title. c. Pick a topic (category) for it. This is the only area I have a hard time with. I think Digg.com needs a few more Topic areas, or the ability to “tag” our submissions. Maybe someday. d. Check the preview of your submission. e. Fill out the “are you human” test. f. Submit!
You’re done! You’ve dug! You have made the little Digg man happy and you can be off to find more stuff to Digg.
Digg Plugins
There are some great Digg plugins available for WordPress and other blogs or some great copy and paste code to implement on just about any website out there. This makes it easy to integrate Digg into your online life and enable your user to promote your site easily.
Digg Traffic!
Last, but by no means the least, Digg.com provides quality traffic to your website. It does take a bit of work and maintenance to ensure that happens. You will need to participate in the Digg Community and continue to submit good quality links. Don’t just submit your own website links, make sure you submit other website stories you surf or read.
Personalize your Digg profile. Add a picture. Add some information about yourself. Make friends on Digg.com. Add them as favorites. Encourage your coworkers or circle of friends to Digg your content, and always reciprocate by digging theirs if they have any. Commenting on Dugg stories and having some good conversation about what’s been submitted is highly encouraged.
Good traffic takes time and with Digg it really is all about the participation.
So grab your shovel and start Digg’ing!
