Digg: Shouts Out, Share on Facebook and Twitter In
During Digg's Townhall (embedded below) this evening, founder Kevin Rose and CEO Jay Adelson announced that the shout feature on Digg will be removed later this week to be replaced with a new share option that will "streamline your ability to share on Facebook and Twitter."
According to an e-mail from Digg tonight, it will likely happen Thursday. "We've elected to remove shouts in favor of more popular sharing options, based on user feedback and broader market research," a Digg spokesperson told us. The new share feature will also include an e-mail option.
"Right now Digg is really focused on these product updates, you saw some of the things we've released recently [Facebook Connect, Diggbar, search], we really want to move Digg into more of a real-time environment." Adelson said during the Townhall. Dupe detection, which has been promised to Digg users at about six previous Townhalls, is also on the way, according to Adelson "in just a few days."
The shout feature on Digg has been the bane of many a Digg user for some time. While originally created to encourage user interaction, it quickly became a hot tool for spammers. Additionally, many folk, including Mariana Peyton, who put the question "When will you resolve/shut down the shout feature and finally solve the power user issue?" to Adelson and Rose tonight, felt it was a tool used by power users to stake their claim on the site and get their submissions to the front page quicker.
While Digg has yet to activate the new share feature, Muhammad Saleem, social media strategist and an active community member on Digg, tonight told ReadWriteWeb he can understand why Digg would want to remove the shout feature. "It's become a way of spamming stories to hundreds of people to amass votes and promote junk," he explained, "so I am definitely in favor of the removal as long as a new, better feature takes its place."
Unfortunately, he doesn't think that a Twitter-share or Facebook-share option would be a better alternative - or even a good replacement for shouts.
The Problem with Shouts
Saleem explained that Digg instituted shouts as a way for people to share stories with each other, assuming (or hoping) that people would share a story or two now and again with 10-12 of their close friends "like Kevin would send stuff to the Digg team, I would shout something to The Drill Down team, etc."
The problem, of course, was that the feature opened the door to a huge spam fest. People started amassing friends by the hundreds, and then shouting their stories to them in an effort to get the Diggs necessary to get to the front page. Most Diggers would tell you that once Digg realized how the system was being abused, they started limiting the feature, or minimizing the impact of the feature by requiring more Diggs (diversity) for stories that were getting votes as a result of shouts.
"Now," according to Saleem, "they need a better mechanism that still enables people to share things without being penalized, and at the same time they need a system that doesn't get abused."
Because the system can still be abused.
According to Reg Saddler, a.k.a Zaibatsu, power users don't use shout. "Shout is superfluous on Digg. You use it to help out others, but you don't really need it to get the word out about your stories."
Saddler, once a power user on Digg, is now making a name for himself on Twitter. According to Twitalyzer, Saddler's 'clout' value stands at 100%. "On Twitter, I can send a tweet out every single hour to my 83K followers and drive traffic to Digg," Saddler pointed out, "If you are a power user and you have a fan base on Twitter, you don't need the shout feature on Digg."
This is not to say he spams his audience with worthless content; quite the opposite, Saddler has a keen eye for breaking news and is happy to share interesting stories with his online friends; Twitter just allows him to do it in real time.
So what's the answer?
Whether Digg offers its users shouts, Twitter, Facebook, or e-mail, they'll likely be faced with many of the same issues.
According to Saleem, the only option that could work is for Digg to come up with more ground rules, but even that is a tall order. "They are leaders in the space, meaning they face issues many others don't face because they're not at the same level; the solutions they need are to problems that haven't existed before for other companies."
So what do you think? Good move on Digg's part or do you have a better solution in mind? We'd love your thoughts.
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Good move. Digg needed to be more integrated with Twitter.
Zaibatsu is very right.... even the new system they'll incorporate will come up with many issues of same kind in future.... the only solution is constant updates i think... nothing else!
The shout mechanism is the social media aspect of Digg, without it Digg users don't have a way to communicate with each other. So without shout you don't have the discoverability factor of using Digg to find people with the same interests who are on Digg itself. So I don't see this as a good thing at all.
I wouldn't say that it is a good move but it is definitely a better option than before.
Great, I hate the shout feature...I wonder how much more traffic FB received after the connect with Digg..
I'm going to miss the shouts. I have enough stuff I read on twitter without adding Digg "shouts" to it. I LIKE getting my shouts! I don't shout often, but I have lots of folks that shout to me & call attention to stuff I wouldn't see normally in the stream of things. I ignore those that I don't care about but please, please don't turn them off!
I hate the shout feature from long. It's actually late that Kevin realize the importance of shutting down Shout feature.
Integration with Twitter and Fb is much better option.
If I'm allowed to post the link here, I have already written a post on why Diggers should stop shouting on Digg
http://www.shoutmeloud.com/stop-shouting-on-digg.html
I think shutting down the shouts is a step in the right direction, but I question the twitter integration because it seems strange to have to sign up for a 3rd party service in order to share stories you find on digg.
Nevertheless, it's a step in the right direction because it's clear that the shout system was being abused: go to any top user who makes their shouts public, and you'll see things like "thanks for the digg!" or "please digg this for a friend. Be sure to shout me back so I can digg yours, too!" That kind of thing.
Whatever Digg builds, there'll always be smart minds out there who find ways to exploit the system--so Digg just has to figure out the best way to go about sharing digg stories, and then throw that idea away and build it again with a fresh perspective. Eventually, digg'll have something that doesn't suffer quite as much abuse as the early prototypes (which is what shouts were and this twitter concept is) and have their own sharing system within the digg site itself, that is sophisticated enough to ward off most abusers.
It'll be a long time before they figure it out, and it'll take baby steps. But they'll get there eventually. Its users just get to be patient and provide valuable, useful feedback.
It just seems crazy having to log into two sites in order to digg along with friends. Come on, start thinking, spend some money and come up with a kick ass option that is actually part of digg! How about a split screen format that shows what our friends are digging and submitting in real time!! Whooopie!!
Am I missing something? Will getting rid of the internal shout feature not just make it more difficult for casual users to get diggs to their submissions?
Interesting article. From the Townhall, it seemed that Kevin and Jay were of the mind that power users weren't really a problem at all, and agreed that the only way their "power" is being abused is by not submitting original content by resubmitting dupes--which they are apparently planning to address. I generally agree with this sentiment; if the structure of this news site is democratic/social then it only makes sense there will be much larger voices who have sway much farther than the diminuitive "digg" each user is granted.
I also still think the Digg comment system needs some work--my comment was in the Townhall as well.
According to Saleem, the only option that could work is for Digg to come up with more ground rules, but even that is a tall order. "They are leaders in the space, meaning they face issues many others don't face because they're not at the same level; the solutions they need are to problems that haven't existed before for other companies."
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It is a good move by Digg. There were group of spammers earlier on digg but now it is clear. Now, digg stories will be interactive on other social sites also like - facebook and twitter.
Nice thought here it's really good and need some update
Getting rid of shouts is a *very* bad idea. I used it to connect with people of like mind, and share and receive content that I valued. I couldn't care one jot about the popularity of articles I submitted, only that people of like mind that valued this content were aware of it.
If Digg is concerned with this feature being abused by power users, then why not simply void the ability of shouts to increase an articles popularity by modifying the algorithm so diggs that were a result of shouts did not factor into an article's popularity? And also ensure users knew about this by announcing the algorithm change to the community so everyone new that it worked this way? This would have the effect of removing the power of power users, while not alienating and isolating users that were not abusing the system.
At present, I feel disconnected and isolated from my "friend" base on Digg. And I don't have the time to use Twitter or an independent application in a round-a-bout way to achieve a similar result.
This should have been much more fully thought out.
Bad move Digg.
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Wow! It is a good move by Digg and need some update.
Good idea... Digg needed to be more integrated with Twitter.
have lots of folks that shout to me & call attention to stuff I wouldn't see normally in the stream of things. I ignore those that I don't care about but please, please don't turn them off!
Am I missing something? Will getting rid of the internal shout feature not just make it more difficult for casual users to get diggs to their submissions?
Will getting rid of the internal shout feature not just make it more difficult for casual users to get diggs to their submissions?
Every large site can learn from Myspace. They think that once they've got the users they don't have to bother with improving or maintaining their site. Myspace didn't bother fixing their problems until they realised users were moving to Facebook. By the time they did anything it was too late.Hopefully the same will happen to Facebook, and perhaps eBay as well. I'd like some higher quality sites.
Digg is leader and probably the leader will think and do in the right way.
Wow!!! it is the good news from Digg update automatic information with Twitter.
I question the twitter integration because it seems strange to have to sign up for a 3rd party service in order to share stories you find on digg.
Thanks for sharing,it's really good and need some update
Wow!!! it is the good news from Digg update automatic information with Twitter.
Good idea.. digg stories will be interactive on other social sites also like - facebook and twitter.
oh... very good digg by twitter
Wow! It is a good move by Digg and need some update.
thank yours a nice post.
Great idea for Digg. The future is changing and we just try to learn new things.
Lidijia,
Most webmasters and Entreprenuers using Digg and Stumbleupon now, but digg most popular have good features like sharing tweets to twitter,facebook. this is a great option to get so mang Votes.
Great post, Keep it up.
Seo Company
very good idea for digg
Digg's shout is a hot issue because of the spammers invasion. I think it's great for Digg to move on to a new era.
It is a good move by Digg. Thank you for sharing.
Digg needed to be more integrated with Twitter.
Most webmasters and Entreprenuers using Digg and Stumbleupon now, but digg most popular have good features like sharing tweets to twitter,facebook. this is a great option to get so mang Votes.
Great post, Keep it up.
If Digg is concerned with this feature being abused by power users, then why not simply void the ability of shouts to increase an articles popularity by modifying the algorithm so diggs that were a result of shouts did not factor into an article's popularity? And also ensure users knew about this by announcing the algorithm change to the community so everyone new that it worked this way?
That is a good move by Digg. The future is changing and we just try to learn new things. it is the good news from Digg update automatic information with Twitter.
Great, I love the shout feature coz it very easy to share on facebook and twitter.
it is the good news from Digg update automatic information with Twitter.
It is a good move by Digg. There were group of spammers earlier on digg but now it is clear. Now, digg stories will be interactive on other social sites also like - facebook and twitter.
Video above make me know more about the shout feature of digg and reason why it was removed from digg.
It just seems crazy having to log into two sites in order to digg along with friends. Come on, start thinking It is a good move by Digg. There were group of spammers earlier on digg but now it is clear. Now, digg stories will be interactive on other social sites also like - facebook and twitter.
it is the good news from Digg update automatic information with Twitter
Good idea! Digg needed to be more integrated with Twitter. Thank :)
very good idea for digg
good news from Digg update automatic information with Twitter
There were group of spammers earlier on digg but now it is clear. Now, digg stories will be interactive on other social sites also like - facebook and twitter.
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