You Can’t Say No To Puss In Boots

I’ve been in denial for sometime now about the conversion to Digg version 4. I never thought this day would come. For only less than a year of usage my heart is breaking. I can’t imagine what the others with years of experience and usage of Digg are going through right now. I was hoping for some miraculous turn of events that this would get pulled off the drawing board at the last minute but it appears they are moving forward.

SIGN THE “PLEASE STOP DIGG VERSION 4″ PETITION

I logged into my profile settings (first time in a long time) to make some switch-a-roos and low and behold I was unable to do so. Maybe this happened weeks ago and this is old news but it’s news to me. This was a swift dagger to the heart that has shed so much digg love. It seems eminent now and there is nothing we can do.

The ONLY thing I can do is remind Digg why this move they are about to so boldly do is wrong. Here are two posts that do a great job at explaining why this will be a bad, bad thing.

Scott Bradley Take On Digg Version 4

Summary Points:

There is No Way To Really Know What Your Friends Have Submitted
My News Is Cluttered With What Your Friends Are Digging
A Customized Front Page…Wait… What?
Auto Submitting Content From Publishers and Users Alienates Loyal Users Entirely
The Recommendation Engine Has Been Removed
User Stats Have Been Completely Removed: Goodbye “Power Users”
The Removal Of RSS Feeds (which has since been denied by Digg)

Take a look at that in depth post. It’s a beauty.

Another great example of the downfall of Digg Version 4 is;

Adam Sherk Stats Of Publisher Accounts On The New Digg

“First and foremost is the ability to create official profiles and automatically submit content, which publishers are hoping will turn Digg into a friendlier place for mainstream media. But how will users respond to the new format? Do they want to follow and interact with specific media sites? Or will publisher profiles end up full of self-submitted stories with only one digg (their own)?”

Adam breaks down the stats of the current top publisher accounts on the new Digg. Then, add the new auto submit feature and you are asking for trouble. In other words, we are going to see a mass inundation of submissions from publisher accounts and rest assure you are going to see a lot less digging and more flooding of our news feeds. (did I just say “news feed”, bleh sounds like facebook)

SIGN THE “PLEASE STOP DIGG VERSION 4″ PETITION

Final Plea

Digg, you have climbed into bed with big sites and you have lost your way. You are moving yourself into a different market of social media. This site will be too much like Facebook and that is not what people want. You saw your traffic going down and you panicked. But really, you are still light years above your competition.

Digg Traffic Graph – Still far above the competition.

Reddit Traffic Graph – The only reason they are moving up is because you announced a new Digg and everybody is running.

StumbleUpon Traffic Graph – Again, the only reason they are moving up is because you announced a new Digg and everybody is running.

Please don’t do this! You are still the leader of the article voting market. A simple survey of all users would help decipher where you are lacking and how to improve to maintain your leadership. There is no need to COMPLETELY reinvent the wheel.

Challenge

Digg, I challenge you to put your new site to the test. Once you have opened up V4 to the public and fully announce it’s grand opening, leave the current Digg running. Leave it open to the public to make a choice. Run both sites together for 6 months and see where they compare. If your new Digg has generated as much traffic as your current site, publish the results for people to understand and close down the old. My guess would be that your current version will still stay out on top.

If you haven’t yet signed “PLEASE STOP DIGG VERSION 4″ Petition, please do so.

Tagged as: digg, new digg, social media