Many of the users left and never came back. Many came back over and over. And over. They were banned each time it was discovered they were a previously banned user. It came in waves, in September. In October. In December.
Some were accused of using scripts. Some of being previously banned. One, the site's No. 3 Digger of all time, Zaibatsu, was banned for reasons that still seem vague. Reg can explain things for himself: Reg's Explanation
Each time the ban hammer fell, those left on the site would dust off their friends lists, removing those who were gone and making room for new (or old) friends. There were temporary revolts after each banning - members threatened to move to Mixx, to Reddit , to other sites. But in the end, they came back because, after all, this was Digg. The BMOC.
While Digg was declining (or not declining in the mind of various VC investors) a new power was rising. Twitter has grown from a small site with minimal usage until the 2007 SXSW to a huge phenomenon. Twitterati have sprung up that rival the traffic driving power of even the infamous MrBabyMan.
Personality, spunk and a general humorous outlook are all signs of a great digger. As is an innate ability to locate and find popular content for others to enjoy. These qualities allowed Digg to grow into the site it is today. Twitter operates on much of the same principle; only on a more rapid and fluid level. Over time Diggers started becoming active on Twitter. Sure, at first, half the reason was to use it as another means of getting diggs. But soon it became an end rather than a means.
As it became harder to break out to the front page on Digg, Twitter reached a tipping point, where a tweet about something truly interesting could become viral and draw more traffic than any non-FP on Digg could. With the amount of stories coming into Digg each day, content gets lost. Great stories and articles might be seen by two people. When a content site begins to lose out on valuable content: something is wrong.
When you offer disillusioned souls a chance for redemption: they take it. None demonstrates this more prominently than Zaibatsu. Having been tossed off of Digg, Reg used his natural content finding ability to amass a HUGE amount of followers in a relatively short amount of time. What was his secret? The same one he had on Digg: content, content, content.
Digg is only as good as its users and the content that they provide to the site. It's a great feeling finding awesome content and if you are lucky enough meeting the author/creator of that awesome content. Twitter allows for that transition to be seamless. You can connect immediately with the blog owner or artist with a simple @. No framework is holding you back. Transparency, communication, and a sense of community all exist on Twitter...and the invitation is open to everyone.
This new kind of transparency is the kind of thing top users of Digg have been advocating since the site began. Communication is key in order to build a thriving community. Twitter is now the best place to do that. Being able to connect, talk with people and explore is really what the internet is all about. Take away those simple things and you will create malcontent very quickly.
Will Digg survive this exodus of talented content providers loyal to their site? Maybe. But the glory days of Digg being the first thing you look at for something cool/groundbreaking are long gone.
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tagged as Digg, power user, Social Media, transparency, twitter
Out With a Whimper, Not a Bang…
Way back in August – that’s like 8 years for those using the site — Digg went on a banning spree, kicking off users left and right for using scripts that, for the most part, enhanced the Digg experience rather than cheating it….