Digg has apparently changed the algorithm making it much harder for top diggers and people who only get votes from their friends to push stories to the homepage.
The new system means stories are frequently being held in the upcoming queue for up to 200 Diggs. Any story getting 200 Diggs in 24 hours must be hugely popular and previously would have hit the homepage in maybe 100 Diggs depending on who submitted it.
Here is what Digg had to say on the matter:
One of the keys to getting a story promoted is diversity in Digging activity. When the algorithm gets the diversity it needs, it will promote a story from the Upcoming section to the home page. This way, the system knows a large variety of people will be into the story.
The way some people attempt to push their own stories onto the front page is by asking friends either using the Digg shout system or by sending a few instant messages. Some bloggers also have a loyal following who will Digg your posts every time you include a Digg button.
It looks like this will no longer work. If the same people always Digg your submissions or submissions from a certain domain then their votes will count less.
As I write this a story has just gone hot with 32 Diggs and it looks pretty spammy. I caught a screenshot in case it disappears (yes, there it goes, buried already after 3 minutes).
This proves that you can still get on the homepage with just a few Diggs and a spammy story.
Patrick Altoft is Director of Search at Leeds based digital & SEO agency Branded3. Patrick also runs Blogstorm.You can get our blog posts delivered for free by email every day - simply add your email address to the box below or alternatively grab the RSS feed.
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Digg is going to police itself to death.
“Digg is going to police itself to death.”
Amen to that…. I mean seriously, what the heck does any of that have to do with the main purpose of the site which is to get popular stories to the homepage? I mean seriously… the submitter has to have “diversity”?
This officially means that joe schmoe user can no longer come on digg and submit great news and get it to the front page sharing it with everyone. Which is “was” the whole idea in the first place.
You now have to be a super user and get tons of diggs whether your story is good or not…
Just another way to make it harder for the small blog! Thats it!
Steve
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