Digg, which anyone over a certain age reading this may know as the former “homepage of the internet,” is coming back. It never actually went away, but it’s now back in the hands of, and being rebooted by, its original founder.
Digg Is Back, 20 Years After It First Launched
Digg is back in the hands of its original founder, Kevin Rose. And Rose is planning to reboot Digg, with some help from Alexis Ohanian, the co-founder of Reddit. Back in the day, Reddit and Digg were sworn enemies, and vying for the same audience. But times have changed.
Now, Reddit is well-established, and not going anywhere. But the rest of the social media landscape is a bit of a mess. Thepress release announcing the return of Diggstates that “community discourse has grown increasingly combative, cluttered, and exhausting [and] users are bogged down by misinformation, spam, and the emotional toll of navigating hostile interactions.” Leaving room for an alternative.
The original Digg allowed users to upvote (digg) or downvote (bury) stories, shaping what rose to prominence and what disappeared without trace. The new Digg is likely to be partly that, but with Reddit-style communities involved too. And AI will be heavily involved, helping moderators focus on things other than menial tasks, helping users sort through content, and (potentially) more creative ventures too.
To be clear, Digg may be “coming back,” but it never actually went away. At the time of writing,digg.comtook you to the existing homepage, with a mix of news, trending stories, and videos to peruse. The latest, Rose-led reboot has since taken over the homepage and while it hasn’t happened yet, it’s scheduled to start rolling out in the coming weeks.
Do We Need an Internet Homepage Anymore?
The key question is, do we actually need Digg anymore? Whatever form it’s packaged in? The internet is a very different beast now than it was when Digg initially launched in 2004. Plus, Reddit already exists, and that has evolved into a hugely important destination for millions of people. To the point thatReddit is an alternative to Google.
Even the promised use of AI is a bit of a gamble. While artificial intelligence can obviously be extremely useful in managing menial tasks, moderating communities, and even making improvements to a site as a whole, its success or failure will depend on how it’s integrated.
Despite my cynicism, as someone old enough to remember the old Digg, I’ll be signing up to try the new Digg to find out.
