Attack Of The Digg Clones
internet, writing content February 20th, 2007User driven news sites are nothing new, they have been around on the internet for quite some time. Most internet users “in the know” will immediately think of Digg when one mentions social media websites but Digg did not invent the up and down news voting system we are all too familiar with nowadays but they definitely made the concept popular.
Yahoo and Dell have added a twist to the voting engine by utilizing it for other functions. Yahoo uses it as a publicly viewable (and votable) suggestions box. Dell uses it to gather ideas and suggestions from Dell customers and potential customers for its product lines. So far it seems the tool is working for Dell, as the top suggestion has over 55,000 votes the last time I visited the site. Here is a closer look at the latest entries into the Digg Clone world.
Yahoo Suggestions
URL: http://suggestions.yahoo.com/
Yahoo recently introduced a Digg like engine to power their suggestion boards. The site works just like any other voting system. Users make suggestions on many Yahoo products and services and other users vote on ideas. The goal of the site is to quickly gauge what users of the services are looking for. This voting mechanism can gather suggestions, and associated data such as how popular it is without having to send out questionnaires and polls to users inboxes. Although Yahoo did not launch a news voting service that competed with Digg, users of Digg (known as the Digg mob) did not take kindly to this new website. On launch day, as news reached the Digg homepage of a new Digg clone, the Digg mob swarmed the Yahoo suggestion pages with spam and obscenities. The most popular suggestion at one point was for Yahoo to get a bit more creative and not launch a Digg clone.
While the Digg mob may have acted inappropriately, I somehow feel for them. They have a lot of pride in the community they have helped build only to see a huge player in the internet scene (well, not as big as Google but you get the idea) copy one of the main voting mechanisms of their site. However, from Yahoo’s perspective, if something is working very well then there is no reason to reinvent it. Steal it, change it slightly and hope it is successful. That seems to be how the tech industry functions :)
Dell - IdeaStorm
URL: http://www.dellideastorm.com
Dell’s IdeaStorm is very similar to Digg. In fact, when Dell launched IdeaStorm they gave kudos to Digg for the voting mechanism made popular by Digg. However, the similarities end at the voting mechanism. Dell uses the website much like how Yahoo is utilizing their Digg clone. Soliciting suggestions from the general public and existing Dell customers is a lot easier through a public voting system than a traditional questionnaire. This is evident when you look at the most popular suggestion on the IdeaStorm website. The suggestion to offer a preinstalled copy of Linux with Dell systems has received over 55,000 votes when I last visited the site. How long would it take to receive over 55,000 through a traditional suggestion form?
Another activity that Dell encourages is the discussion of the ideas posted on the IdeaStorm website. Not only does Dell want to see what is popular, they want to read up on why users feel their suggestion is important. I like the subtle changes that Dell has done on their site as it does not look like a generic clone of Digg’s page. If I were a Dell customer, I would definitely spend some time sifting through their suggestions list to cast my votes.
Netscape
URL: http://www.netscape.com/
Netscape is more of a Digg clone than Yahoo is because Netscape is also a news voting website like Digg. Both websites have a loyal following, much like how Windows and Linux have their often vocal supporters. Netscape uses the same up/down voting that Digg employs, but they call their down vote option “Sink” instead of “Bury”. Netscape used to have the upper hand with more categories to submit news into, but Digg has since followed suit by expanding their category listings.
Due to the similarities in what the two websites offer, Digg and Netscape are arch rivals in the news voting website niche. This is Netscape vs. Internet Explorer all over again. If there was any doubt these two sites are in bitter competition, then the recent incident where a Netscape employee posted information that Digg removed from their website shows that these two sites are definitely locked in competition. The information in question is the Top Diggers list which lists the most active and popular Diggers. This information may be used to game the system, and negatively affect the results. So, what does the competition do? That’s right, they repost the information on a third party website in hopes that does happen.
MSN Reporter
URL: http://reporter.msn.nl/
Microsoft’s entry into the Digg Clone wars is by far the most interesting. I think MSN Reporter will usher in a whole new generation of news voting websites that will hit mainstream internet users. In fact I think if MSN Reporter is successful, it will bring the Digg clone wars to the front pages of the big three internet companies (Google, Yahoo, Microsoft).
Like most news voting websites, Microsoft employs an up/down voting system made popular by Digg. One thing that I did notice was different was that the Up and Down votes are kept separate (the down votes are not subtracted from the up votes). I’m not 100% sure how the ranking system works but it must take the down votes into account somehow when ranking the popular news articles. Search Engine Watch reports that MSN Reporter has attracted 1.3 Million users during the first two months of beta testing. The top stories have recieved upwards of 10,000 votes as well. It will be interesting to see the activity level when Microsoft expands the testing sites outside of Belgium and Netherlands.
I know I am sounding like a Microsoft fan-boy lately with my pro-Microsoft opinions as of late, but I like the interface of the MSN Reporter website. I got a kick out of the up and down vote terms used on the MSN Reporter Site (Non-English). The up-vote is called “Kicken!” and the down-vote is “Dumpen!”.
Reddit
URL: http://www.reddit.com
A great example of a website with the same underlying concept, that has its own unique interface is reddit. In fact, its interface cannot get any more simple than it is. When reddit was created, the team did not want users to have to spend time learning how to use the system. I enjoy visiting reddit everyday to see the stories that are posted their by other reddit users. I have also submitted my own articles that reddit users seem to have enjoyed. In fact, my most popular blog post, Americans Realize Dixie Chicks Were Right–Bush Does Suck, was thrusted into that position after I posted it on reddit.
As with all social media sites, reddit is encountering a lot more spam and karma whores on their system as of late. Hopefully the site administrators can react quick enough with systems to discourage or even eliminate the spam that gets posted.
Who Is Next?
Will Google launch an extension to their Google News service to allow users to vote on news stories? With Microsoft launching the MSN Reporter service, it will be an interesting next few weeks to see if Google has anything up their sleeves.
One thing that I know for sure is, that as these news voting sites get more popular, it will become increasingly important to write compelling content so you or your visitors can submit as many articles to these sites as possible. If all you are doing is regurgitating content, then as the internet moves towards more of a social driven medium with more and more websites moving to a user voting based system, you will fall behind and your website revenues will plummet.
What does this mean for you as a blogger?
The key is to not spam these news websites with every blog post, article, or review that you write. Many successful bloggers such as Darren Rowse of Problogger fame preach that content is king. Darren has an entire section devoted to writing content for your blog or website. How to Think Outside of the Box and Develop Attention Grabbing Content is a good place to start. John Chow, another successful blogger has a blog post entitled, The Art of Creating Content and Pumping Out The Content. As long as you write compelling content, people will link to it, share it with others, and you will be successful.
There are thousands of new blogs joining the blogosphere (i hate that word) everyday, you need to make yours stand out. Leveraging these social media sites is an excellent way to get started but remember, these are social websites. Try not to make enemies by polluting these sites with spam and garbage.
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