Asked about the departure of Digg's former CEO Jay Adelson, Rose didn't go into details, but noted that "Jay was ready for something new and so were we." For himself, though, the role of Digg's CEO was not something he "wanted to take on." Rose also noted that he wasn't around at Digg much during the months before the departure of Adelson as the service's CEO. He pointed out that he likes to roll features out, but as the backlog of new features at Digg grew and Digg focused more on revenue-producing features than user-facing features, he grew restless. During that time, too, Rose thought that moving engineers to revenue-producing features instead of giving users a new experience was a mistake. Without new features, a lot of Digg's users grew restless and moved on to other services.

"Big and Bold and New"

Talking about the launch of Digg v4, Rose pointed out that the company had to focus on user-focused features again as development of the site had stagnated for too long. To stand apart from Facebook and Twitter - which Rose admits are taking traffic away from Digg - the company had to do something "big and bold and new."

Talking about the mistakes Digg made during the relaunch, Rose admitted that the team made a lot of mistakes. As an example, he noted that the Digg team shouldn't have made the personalized news view the default.

Will Kevin Rose Leave Digg Soon?

Asked about his own future at Digg, Rose wouldn't go into details, but said that he was getting "burned out" and wouldn't say that he would still be at Digg by the end of the year. Rose is clearly very interested in continuing his work as an angel investor - something he seemed far more passionate about than Digg during today's interview - so we wouldn't be surprised if he left Digg at some point in the near future to pursue this.

Stumbling Off the Starting Blocks

For last Wednesday's relaunch, Digg migrated all of its traffic over to an entirely new back-end infrastructure built from the ground up over the course of 18 months. The new system had been tested in beta for almost two months, but the preparations the site conducted for the public release apparently fell short of what was needed to handle last week's traffic surge.

"Hindsight is 20/20. We made a calculated decision to test the site in beta and then launch," Desai says. "We had a game plan and clearly it did not go smoothly. In hindsight, there are several things that could have been done better."

A few of those "several things" include a slower roll-out and a better explanation of the site's rationale, admits Desai. With many Internet sites, he explains, features are more continually released to the public, not all at once as was the case with Digg 4. Part of the reason for rewriting the back-end of the site was to allow for easier and more frequent product iterations - a practice Digg intends to implement in the future.

Turning Negative into Positive

As for the backlash from frustrated Digg users, Desai says the company is thankful for their passion.

"It's better than having no reaction," he says. "They have a right to say what they want to say, and for us it's all good feedback. We would rather not have users be frustrated, that was not a goal of ours, but we are reacting to those frustrations and making changes where they make sense while keeping our broader mission in mind."

Going Forward

That "broader mission," Desai says, includes continuing to grow the platform to provide for publishers, both large and small, as well as its users that make the site what it is. Since launching v4, Digg has seen traffic at equal or higher numbers each day, and the My News section has helped send registration numbers through the roof.

But as Desai admits, "it is still early going," and if Digg wants to continue to leverage its recent growth, it will need to more carefully and more stably iterate its product in the future.

The Upcoming section, as we noted yesterday, is where many of Digg's most loyal users spent time attempting to influence which stories would make the front page. Many complaints focused around the removal of this section, which Rose says accounts for less than half of a percent of site traffic. "I definitely see the fun behind wanting to see stories just before they jump, so we'll add a view of upcoming popular stories soon," he says.

Another change that angered many users was that the site defaulted to the new "My News" section, which is populated with stories submitted, commented on and dugg by a user's friends and contacts. This caused many long-time Digg users to accuse the site of "becoming too much like Facebook and Twitter." Rose says the default homepage will soon become toggleable between My News and Top News, stating simply, "Makes sense, we'll add this setting."

The social My News section has been the focus of the relaunch and Rose is probably disappointed Digg users weren't more accepting of the feature. While it certainly, "makes sense" to make the default homepage an interchangeable setting, it wasn't what he wanted, or it would have been included from the start.

What's NOT Changing

There are a few areas where Rose is refusing to bow to pressure from the site's users. Many were disappointed that the ability to "bury" stories was removed in the latest version, and argue it eliminates their ability to keep bad stories from the front pages of the site. Rose argues that "by removing the bury button we have put a stop to the bury brigades," and notes that users can report malicious content by clicking a "hide" button near each story.

Another change that has irked many users are the up- and down-voting buttons on comments, which were changed to arrows from their previous thumb versions. It's a minor change, but it means a lot in the Digg community, especially when arrows are used on many other sites, including the Reddit community.

Rose seemingly brushed this issue away, making a reference to the popular Old Spice advertisements. "Look at v3, now back again, the arrows are now diamonds," he writes. Nope, they're still arrows. Personally I could care less if they're arrows or thumbs, but the community at large seems to care a great deal, so it seems like a no-brainer.

Is It Enough?

There are still many lingering concerns for fans of Digg. While many contend that the new Digg plays into the hands of popular mainstream media outlets (the same outlets Digg was originally designed to circumvent) and takes away power from individual submitters and smaller sites, Rose says that all diggers are created equal.

But will these changes be enough to appease the Digg community? Early responses have been mixed, with a leaning toward positive, but time will tell whether the users choose to meet Rose in the middle. Let us know how you feel about the changes and the fixes to the new Digg by leaving us a comment below!

Photo by Joi Ito

So what are they so angry about? There are a few major issues, but the majority of it boils down to the fact that some features present in the old Digg have either been removed or altered.

The Bury Button - As long as users have been able to digg the good stories, they've been able to bury the bad ones. Digg v4 has done away with burying. Stories can now only be dugg, commented on or saved. Luckily for Digg, this isn't a hard fix if they so choose to make it. Of the over 2,000 comments yesterday's story received on Digg, the third most dugg comment is simply, "Where's my bury button???"

Upcoming - Many of Digg's loyal users are sorely missing the "Upcoming Stores" section which was found in each category of the site. Digg 4 now only features "Top News" within each topic, but these only include stories which have already broken through with hundreds of diggs.

Many users enjoyed lingering in the Upcoming section to be among early commenters and to help curate which stories made the front page. Now it is almost impossible to find a story within the "Top News" tab with less than a few hundred diggs already to its name. The new "My News" section could be what Digg intends to be a replacement, but this only features stories dugg or commented on by your friends and followers - something users of the old site aren't exactly thrilled with.

Design and Layout - Some are even displeased with the overall look and feel of the site. Some complain the color scheme lost a lot green and now resembles Facebook's pale blue tones. On a more practical note, Digg has moved away from pagination to an in-page "Load More" button. This has angered some users because refreshing the page will cause one to lose their place in the pagination. Not everyone, it seems, is a fan of opening links in a new browser tab.

What Now?

Frequent users of Digg seem most upset by the disruption to their normal routine on the site. Whether it's pagination, upcoming stories, bury buttons or even things like being able to view stories submitted by a specific user - the new Digg has clearly displaced and upset a large segment of its user base.

Digg is now between a rock and hard place - sticking with their instincts and trying to force some new methods on its users, or bowing to pressure and bringing features back. Will they choose to make their users happy, or will they keep the new features, which have been aimed to help publishers?

The future of Digg will certainly be an interesting one to follow. For more interesting opinions on this issue, check out Alex Whilhem's post at The Next Web, and Allen Stern's article at CenterNetworks.

Given all the traffic Digg sees on a daily basis, it seems unlikely that a sudden glut of visitors could bring the site down. What's more likely, is that pushing the new Digg has resulted in some temporary slowness. But hey, server speed, schmerver speed - here's a reminder of the new features now available on Digg.

My News - If you visit the page while logged in to your Digg account, your new homepage is now "My News" where stories your friends have commented, dugg, and shared are aggregated. Digg now makes it very easy to find and follow your friends or your favorite outlets and personalities by pulling contacts from Facebook, Twitter and the like.

Some have criticized Digg's more social and publisher-friendly approach, but I for one think it's a wise move. The social side of things makes finding relevant stories much easier and actually encourages interaction with the site through digging and commenting. I know now that my friends are more likely to see a story if I digg it or comment, so I'm incentivized to actually do those things.

It will be interesting to see how the rest of the Digg population reacts to the new changes once the site is actually speedy enough to be used again. (UPDATE: It is.) Just as with any site, there are bound to be many who are enraged about the new layout, but I think Digg 4 is going to win over more than it turns off in the end.

Are you fan of the changes? Go check out the new Digg and let us know what you think in the comments below!

Rose says these new features play into the hands of publishers because the viral aspect of sharing stories with friends will help stories achieve higher digg counts. If one person diggs a story, it shows up on the homepages of their followers, and if they digg it, the process continues. To make the process of getting articles online even simpler, publishers can now claim their RSS feeds and automatically publish their content on Digg without having to visit the site.

These changes and additions may be just what the doctor ordered for Digg which has had to continually delay these updates. Personally the preview looks pretty slick, and may actually bring me back to using Digg on a more regular basis. Check our Rose's video below and let us know what you think in the comments.

Killing the Toolbar

According to Rose, the Digg toolbar is simply not worth the trouble. According to him, the iFrame "causes confusion when bookmarking, breaks w/iFrame busters, and has no ability to communicate with the lower frame (if you browse away from a story, the old digg count still persists)." Framing content, says Rose, "is bad for the Internet," something critics pointed out to Digg when the company first launched this feature.

We should note that it's not clear if Digg will continue to use its URL shortener for these links.

Unbanning Banned Domains

In addition to killing the DiggBar, Digg will also unban all previously banned domains. Besides filtering malware sites and other sites that violate Digg's TOS, "no other restrictions will be placed on content." It's not quite clear how many URLs are currently banned by Digg, but here is a list of some of the more well-known sites that users can't currently submit to Digg. Unbanning a lot of these sites makes a lot of sense for Digg, especially if it plans to keep the focus on personalized recommendations the company's former CEO Jay Adelson outlined last month.

What makes this an ingenious member engagement tool for Digg, is that sub-par articles with a high number of comments are likely to incite action. In the past, many of us simply ignored the sensationalist stories that plagued the lower echelons of Diggdom. Nevertheless, with trolls being a driving force in the determination of trends, users will find themselves clicking through simply to right the wrongs in the Digg universe. While real-time shopping notifications like Woot's Twitter account incentivize users with deals, Digg knows that its members will keep coming back to maintain a sense of justice. The company will be rolling out the trends feature in the near future.

When Eriksen referred to having seen a sneak preview of the application, Rose was visibly surprised. "I cannot show that off yet. You're not even supposed to know about that... Nobody knows about that." A video of the interview is embedded below.

The duo's full interview with Rose will be available shortly via their weekly tech video podcast.

How did the interviewers end up catching a glimpse of the application? Eriksen wrote us today in an email, "We were sitting next to each other, and he had his iPhone in hand. I was turning to him to ask him a question when I saw him playing around with the app."

It goes without saying that a Digg application would take a lot of pain out of social bookmarking for a large number of smartphone users. Currently, startups such as Smub have offered work-arounds for simpler saving and sharing of links on mobile devices.

The Digg iPhone app represents the company's first major mobile offering since a revamping of the Digg mobile site in July 2008. We can reasonably assume that Digg apps for other types of mobile devices will be released in the months to come, as well.

We at ReadWriteWeb are definitely looking forward to playing around with Digg's new toy when it's released. What do our readers think, and what kinds of features do you hope to see when the Digg app hits the App Store?

Says Maser to the community, "The success of this system depends on your participation and feedback, as it will help advertisers to create the best possible experience for the Digg community. Our goal with Digg Ads is to encourage advertisers to create content as compelling as organic Digg stories, and to give you more control over which ads you see on Digg.

It will be interesting to see which advertisers attempt to game the system by digging their own ads, and how fast these ads will be buried. The official June announcement of the Digg ad program received more than 400 comments within the community, and surprisingly many of them are very positive. While critics argue that the ads will simply be buried and advertisers will stop paying for placement, others called this "marketing democracy." A few commenters pointed to the fact that they already use Adblock - a Firefox extension that allows users to filter out advertising content. Nevertheless, others chastise Adblock users for not supporting the community they enjoy. In a community as opinionated as Digg's, it will be interesting to see how the first users react to this new play for revenue.

Speaking to the Ad:Tech audience in San Francisco today, Rose talked about Digg's future saying ads need to be more interactive, print can't be saved, online publishers are in an incredible position and the importance of power users may be underestimated.

Update: Digg starts rolliing out its own ads

Digg's advertising needs have changed. At the beginning, "we had lots of servers falling over," Rose explained. The deal with Microsoft saved the day, allowing Digg to outsource ad sales while continuing to work on the product. However, Digg is now four years old, and banner ads are no longer enough. It's ready to build its own sales team, which currently stands at 2-3 and Rose estimates it could grow to 10-15 over the next year.

The site will focus on larger ad campaigns, and according to Rose, turn to its users. "If anything, Digg has users that like voting,' Rose explained, "and I would love to see a world that if something is really crappy, it gets destroyed or thrown off the site." Either that, he said, "or we charge people more for crappy ads," he added with a grin.

While he says he can't "guarantee" this type of social advertising will make it to Digg, it's certainly an attractive ideal. Rose explains that Digg is looking at ways that people can engage with ads, "so the second [an ad] goes up, it's not just about click-throughs; it's more about watching and seeing what [people] think."

Social Advertising?

Rose pointed to the Chevy SUV campaign that invited visitors to create and share their own ad copy on video clips. "It's going to happen," Rose said, and "I'm happy to push it and make it happen sooner."

The caveat, of course, is that Rose doesn't want Digg to be a platform where the only discussion involves comments like "that ad sucks." "I'd hope [conversation] would be deeper," he added.

Although he likes the idea of user involvement when it comes to advertising, Rose noted that there are two problems with these forms of social ads; people are generally conservative and scared to expose their brand in that way, also, the tools aren't there to foster discussion.

But, tools could be coming, and they could be coming to Digg. Last week, in an interview with Mike Arrington, Rose explained that Digg is completely revamping its site and expects it will be seen as a "ballsy move" when unveiled.

Rose on Cool Hunters

Rose, who removed the Top Users list from Digg two years ago, today said that they may soon make a reappearance, but in a different form. "We have these amazing users who have an eye for what the masses will enjoy," Rose said, and "it's important to highlight those people because they are valuable."

"In reality, he said, "they take on what is cool - they're very good at finding high quality content that other people will enjoy - and I don't mind [emphasizing] that"

"I think you'll see us expose that data in the future," Rose added, saying you'll likely get to see who the "tastemakers" turn up to be under specific categories.

Note: If you're interested in seeing Digg top users, Social Blade, which is not affiliated with Digg, maintains a list.

Rose on Dead Tree Media

"Dead tree media is...dead," said Rose, who believes we are entering a world of the personal brand, much like Gary Vaynerchuck described [video link].

The landscape has changed. "It's not necessarily about destination site," Rose continued, like the Wall Street Journal or the New York Times, "it's about the person writing the article." Walt Mossberg, for instance, will continue to grow his audience, regardless of where he is published, and Rose sees that as power. "He can move his fans and readers in any direction."

And with the transformation taking place in the world of media, it's an important distinction.

Asked whether Digg can help save the newspaper industry, Rose gave a quick, but succinct "no." Although Digg can't help save print, Rose believes it can absolutely empower the sites. "We can help them understand where their traffic is coming from and let them know more about their users and what they like." "And if you know what people like, you can serve better quality ads."

Whether you're a blogger working in your basement or a journalist at the New York Times, it makes no difference. If your content is good, it will get noticed by Digg's cool hunters. Yet not every social site can do this. While many have tried, (Reddit, Mixx, Yahoo Buzz etc.), Digg has always been the leader in consistently leveling the media playing field.

Why Digg? Well, we can't quite put our finger on it, but as Rose told Arrington last week, "I just feel that we're heading in a different direction than them." And at ReadWriteWeb, we agree. What do you think?

Update: It appears Digg is already rolling out is own ads, with the ad below appearing tonight, after the site was taken offline for a couple of hours. This comes not 12 hours after Rose gave his keynote at Ad:Tech earlier today.

Photo Credit: Flickr Affiliate