Reddit is by Far the Better Choice for Readers, but Digg Remains the Holy Grail for Viral Marketing
With predictions of Digg’s fall this year rampant in 2006 roundup posts, I figured I’d jump in and give my $0.02.
#1 – Digg will remain popular with their demographic
Digg’s popularity is in the appeal to a particular web community. Yes, the idea of voting up stories and having a user-generated news site is unique, but Digg’s site is nearly overrun with a particular niche. However, those same Wii and Ubuntu fanboys that post immature comments and ban anything in the SEO world are the base of Digg’s users. They own the site, and while it may turn off the ordinary, non-tech-obsessed reader, they’re on Digg to stay. Does it limit Digg’s appeal and potential reach? Absolutely. But, it also ensures loyalty, something that MySpace must be sweating bullets over.
#2 – The Quality of Content at Reddit & Netscape is Considerably Higher
From almost any objective perspective, the stories you find atop Reddit and even Netscape (though their UI makes the site nearly untenable for many) far outweigh the value and interest level of Digg. Lower traffic levels and far lower user participation aside, the collected stories at these sites are far more representative of what a more mainstream web news audience would want to find in a “submit and vote for stories” website.
#3 – Fragmentation of Vote-Style Sites is Inevitable
If you’re in the real estate field, you should be putting together a kickass real estate Digg clone. Same goes for finance and cooking and travel and photography. If you’re an enthusiast for any of those, neither Digg nor Reddit nor any other site right now serves your needs. It only takes a community of 2-300 active participants; the same number that many popular forums and blogs have. And no, I don’t think Digg can serve all these markets – they’re hard to reach audiences that will not enjoy the comments and down-diggs of Wii/iPod-worshippers. Speaking of which – Danny – didn’t you promise us one of these for the search marketing industry? We’ve been holding off building one here because we heard you were going to do it… John Battelle’s feeble attempt needs to die and be replaced by something usable.
#4 – Digg Stil Rules for Viral Marketing and SEO
Why? Because bloggers still live on Digg. Those hundreds or thousands of links that are possible from a Digging are not yet of the same veracity or quantity at Reddit or Netscape or Shoutwire. I suspect this will be true for another 12-18 months at least. Thus, getting a story from your dental client’s website onto the Digg frontpage will remain a driving force for many in our profession.
Your opinions?
