i202 Fall 2010 School of Information, UC Berkeley

 http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/19/technology/19digg.html

As the story goes...
Digg is organized by its users. When stories are posted on Digg, users decide which stories they think are important by ‘digging’ them. If enough people ‘digg’ a story it will end up on Digg’s “Top News” page. The users, rather than a profession editor, are responsible for deciding which stories are front page Digg stories.

The reality is not as straight foward.
A group of “Power Diggers” have an inordinate amount of sway in what makes it on ‘Front News’. These users ‘digg’ so many stories that Digg gives their input more weight than less active users. They have become in a sense professional editors - some quite their day jobs to devote themselves to influencing social media sites like Digg.  These users can ensure that their stories make it to the top of the heap at the expense of other stories.

Digg is attempting to fix this power imbalance in several ways. One of which is by giving top publisher’s the chance to digg their own submissions. This favors the stories publishers think are important rather than those that specific “Power Diggers” think are important. Another new addition is allowing users to link themselves with digg friends. The stories a user sees are weighted by what their like minded friends digg. Each user can have more control over the way the information they view is organized because each user can choose a personal group of ‘professional’ friend/editors.