Let's DIGG!

So a really influential website is Digg.  Digg is a website where people share content.  It is similar in concept to any other social networking site where you have followers and you follow others except it is strictly about content.

Here is Diggs about us page:  http://about.digg.com/

The key is to provide content that is valuable, and interesting.  The more interesting your content the more "diggs" you get.  Just like stumbling on stumbleupon, only these are called DIGGS. 

The more diggs an article gets the more popular it becomes, and it will be placed in more prominent places throughout the website.  Some say a front page feature can results in hundreds of thousands of views!  The site is quite popular and can be very helpful in solidifying you as an authority on a topic.

This is a quote from their about digg page:  "Digg builds lists of popular stories being shared across the web. Every story has a digg button. Along with that button is a number that is the number of people from the Digg community who have said they like that like or digg that story.
The amount of diggs a story collects over time can effect how that story spreads and gains more popularity as it spreads more....  News on Digg comes straight from the digg community! The best links found from around the web are shared on digg to gain traction and exposure as the link is shared virally.
Find an interesting link on the internet? Digg is the best place to take that news further and spread it quickly amongst a vibrant community."

I think that Digg could be a very valuable tool to use for our blogging day.  To dig each article for extra exposure AND precious backlinks to our content!  But to be highly effective we have to try to make creative content, just posting a few pictures is fine but probably won't gain a lot of visibility with this type of site.

So take 5 minutes to sign up, you can sign in using facebook or twitter to make it fast and easy.

What to do After Signing Up

Once you are signed up at the very top left of the screen is a search bar you can search for friends or specific topics.

You will see the option on the top left to Submit a link, you can use that to copy and paste a link to a blog.  OR you can download a button to your toolbar to make it quick and easy to submit content.

If you have internet explorer you should see a little blue wrench icon top left of your internet screen, if you click on there, then click on options, then on the left menu click on custom buttons, top of that page you should see add more buttons.  If you click all of this you will be able to search for Digg and just add a button to your toolbar.  This way you don't have to have multiple toolbars.

There are two main things that you can do on Digg. The first is to submit stories that you think the community will like and the second is to digg stories that you like.


Submitting

Thousands of stories are submitted to Digg on a daily basis on a variety of topics. There are currently 7 categories on Digg which include technology, science, world & business, sports, videos, entertainment, and gaming. If you come across any stories that you think are interesting, you can submit them for others to vote on.

Digging

If you like a story you have the option of “digging” it, which is basically voting on it and endorsing it. However, if you don’t like a story then you can bury it by marking it as duplicate, spam, wrong topic, inaccurate or even lame. If this is too simple and you’d like to say more, there is a comment section which gives you the opportunity to give your own two cents on the story and what you really think about it.

How to Make the Front Page

There are two separate areas where stories are displayed, one is the upcoming section and the other is the popular stories section that begins on the front page. When a story is submitted, it has up to 24 hours to make it to the front page or longer if it has not been marked as duplicate, spam, wrong topic, inaccurate or lame. Digg’s complex algorithms take multiple factors into account in order to determine if a story should hit the front page. Some of the factors that the [algorithm](http://www.marketingshift.com/2006/9/diggs-kevin-rose-recent-indiggnation.cfm) uses are as follows:

* The number of diggs

* Amount of buries

* Identity of the voters

* Time

* IP addresses

* Category

Example: Stories submitted in the sports category generally require less diggs to reach the front page compared to stories submitted in the technology category. Overall, less people submit and digg sports stories compared to technology stories which is taken into account by Digg.

DIGG Tools

At the moment, in the [Digg Tools](http://digg.com/tools) section, there are 6 features that help people get more involved with Digg.

1. [Digg badges](http://digg.com/tools/buttons) – badges can be placed on one’s website in order for visitors to digg the website.

2. [Digg news](http://digg.com/add-digg) – the latest digg stories can be added to ones website or blog with ease.

3. [Digg button](http://digg.com/tools/integrate) – for those who have a blog a “digg this” button can be added to each blog post.

4. [Google IG module](http://www.google.com/ig/directory?num=24&url=http://digg.com/goog/ig.xml&q=&start=0) – view recent stories from Digg on your personalized Google homepage.

5. [Google Coop module](http://www.google.com/coop/profile?user=017771777217723414381) – see Digg stories at the top of your Google search results.

6. [Video thumbnails](http://digg.com/tools/thumbnails) – enables you to display Digg’s video thumbnails on your own website.

TIPS For Getting Started

Go to the front page and mark the top stories as favorites, make friends with those digging those top stories and those submitting the top stories.  Go "digg" other people's submissions, it is like twitter most will reciprocate for you.  Have fun and meet some new people and learn a lot!

OK so back to your Digg account, top left... next to the submit a link option is "my news".  Here it will give you articles that the digg website thinks will interest you based upon articles you have submitted to them.
Then you can play around with the "top news" articles, which are articles that are popular and getting a lot of votes, or "diggs" and therefore they get extra features.  That would be our goal to create a popular article to become top news!

Lastly, you should see near the search bar at the top right of the Digg homepage, a little icon for your account.  Click on the down arrow and you will see an option for settings.  Here you can play around with your profile, uploading a pic for your avi, you can connect your facebook and twitter to Digg to help you find everyone that is following you.  Have fun.  There is a lot of wonderful content on this site and it could be a valuable site for exposure to our blogs and etsy shops!!

Thanks.
Janet
http://www.galla15.etsy.com/ - Crystal, button and pearl jewelry!
http://www.trinketsnwhatnots.com/
http://www.galla15whatnots.etsy.com/ - jewelry supplies
http://www.artisansbooklounge.etsy.com/ - Craft books and ebooks