Social Networking Showdown: Digg

Ah, Digg. This social bookmarking/networking site will always have a special place in my heart, since it was the first site I used to promote myself and my work when I started writing online. Digg can bring you tons of traffic in the blink of an eye. That said, it’s a pretty specialized site, even though it isn’t billed that way. There are definitely problems with Digg, and at the end of the day, it’s a site where success often slips through your fingers.

You should use Digg if…

…you’re a video game blogger. Ok, so Digg can be very lucrative to other writers as well, but by far, it is most successful in the gaming industry. This is a social bookmarking site, but I’ve found that is much more focused on networking than other bookmarking websites. If you aren’t friends with the right people, or enough people, you’ll never have success.

If you get a hit on Digg…be prepared for your site to crash. Well, maybe that’s a bit much, but if you have an article that hits the front page, you’ll get thousands of pageviews every hour. Be ready to take care of technical problems, monitor comments, and otherwise handle tons of traffic.

Image: sxc.hu

How to Best use Digg

Digg is all about who you know. There are actually a handful of people who are such a huge part of the Digg community that their “digging” of your story means that you’ll instantly be a success. I’m not going to name names here, and to be honest, I don’t really agree with how this seems to work. What you need to remember is that the more friends you have, the better you’ll be able to promote your website.

The key is to find people who use Digg often and have similar interests. Look at what has been dugg in your topic area in the past. Reach out to people who use Digg often and who would likely enjoy your website, based on their digging history. Also look for people who accept “shouts.” This is how you let people know that you’ve posted something.

Digg is fairly strict about spamming their site. You can’t just log on, befriend a bunch of people you don’t know, and bookmark everything you write. You need to be a part of the community, digging your friends’ articles, submitting articles from sites other than your own, and leaving comments. If you don’t, people won’t respond well to you. You’ll essentially be classified as a spammer.

Disadvantages of Digg

I can’t lie – I don’t like Digg. It’s all about scratching one anothers’ backs, and I don’t like that concept. Digg is kind of like communism…good on paper, but not practical in real life. It just seems too based on having a huge friend list of people who will promote anything you write, whether it is good or not. Other bookmarking sites, which I’ll talk about later, aren’t really as bad as Digg in this respect.

In my experience, Digg also hasn’t been good for anything outside the realm of pop culture. Actually, I’ve attempted using it for sports and television topics, and even those bombed. The only thing that seemed to ever get any attention on Digg at all was video game articles I promoted through the site. At one point, my friends included a few of the people in the popular crowd, but even then, I never really got the hang of what would be popular on the site. I think that’s pretty typical, from talking to other people – things you think will be a hit bomb and vice versa.

And the worst part, in my opinion? Digg traffic usually isn’t quality traffic. Even if people love what they see on your website, few actually subscribe, stick around to read other articles, or bookmark your site. Why? There’s tons more info to read on Digg if they’re bored. To be honest, a lot of people who use Digg don’t even read your entire article. They digg it up because a friend did or because you asked them to, but they don’t actually visit – or they only do for a few seconds to scan the article.

Summary

Use Digg if…

• You write about video games (or maybe other pop culture topics).
• You’re looking for a huge burst of traffic.
• You’re willing to put in the time to make friends, even though the site itself is more focused on bookmarking than networking.
• You bookmark a number of sites, not just your own.

Do Not Use Digg  if…

• You don’t have time to visit and digg every single day.
• Your topic doesn’t fit into the gamer demographic.
• You want quality traffic, not just pageviews.

This post is part of the Social Neworking Showdown here at Bizzia. Check back throughout September for more posts about social networking sites.