Digging Out the News (Dinosaur Media Extinction Alert)

Wall Street Journal ^ | January 17, 2006 | VAUHINI VARA

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A Web Site Invites Readers to Be Editors, But the Approach Presents Some Risks

What would happen if a Web site's readers -- instead of editors -- could decide which stories should be published?

Technology journalist Kevin Rose decided to find out. Two years ago he started a technology news site called Digg.com. The Web site lets users submit links to stories they recommend, along with brief summaries. Users also vote for submissions by clicking on a button labeled "digg it." Each person can vote once per story. The most popular stories -- determined by a formula the site doesn't disclose, including factors like the number of votes received and the time of day -- are automatically promoted to the site's main page.

The items on Digg.com tend to be a mix of uber-geek and offbeat, such as a Web tutorial titled "How to Set Up Database Replication in MySQL," or a link to a harpsichord built out of Lego pieces. Also, stories are ranked on the home page based on how recently they were promoted, rather than their significance. On the day of Apple Computer Inc. Chief Executive Steve Jobs's presentation at the Macworld conference last week, the stories on the subject -- which had more than a thousand votes -- were quickly topped on Digg by unrelated stories with just a few dozen votes.

Traffic to the San Francisco-based site has grown rapidly over the past year. In December, Digg drew 698,000 unique visitors, according to Nielsen/NetRatings. By comparison, tech news blog Slashdot had 1.3 million visitors that month and sites like CNET Networks Inc.'s News.com and Lycos Inc.'s Wired News had close to two million unique visitors each. Anyone can view Digg.com, but only the sites 140,000 registered users can submit stories and vote.

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"News - is what your Editor says it is unless the Publisher says it isn't." - Carl Liberto, former Managing Editor of the now-defunct Shreveport (LA) Journal.