Digg V4 Math: Why 20 Diggs Beats 100

The following are my own personal opinions and theories on how the new version of Digg (V4) works. It is based on speculation, nothing more! Now, with that said, here we go!

As someone who was new to Digg I had a lot of catching up to do when I first joined. In doing so I read up on just about any thing I could find out about the site. And I quickly discovered that the algorithm was about to change.

As I worked my way up the ranks and stared to befriend more and more of the top users (yes I know, some of you did not like the fact that Digg was a SOCIAL site, but it was, hence the term "Social bookmarking site") and talked to many of them off-site, there was a lot of chatter about the new algorithm. But people didn't seem too worried, so neither was I.

That is until I saw what this new algorithm factored in! I can not remember where I saw this, (if anyone can provide the link, it would be greatly appreciated aaronw80(at)hotmail(dot)com) , but I know, long before the new digg went into play, I read that members of the Digg team had given details about the new algorithm and that it was going to take into account "outside factors" taken from the websites themselves, like how many shares on Facebook, and/or how many RTs an article was getting and possibly (this is speculation based on other sites algorithms) actual website hits! In other words, sites that are popular and have high traffic will get tons of ghost votes! Even if actual hits are not a factor, the hundreds of FB shares, RTs, and e-mails the heavy traffic will inevitably trigger would still generate tons of ghost votes!

In an algorithm where website traffic counts as votes, the only thing a mainstream site needs to do in order to make the front page is to have someone submit their articles. Their traffic will do the rest and earn them enough ghost votes to far outnumber actual votes and ghost votes from independent websites and blogs! I have seen this algorithm used on some popular Digg "competitor" sites (did anyone else hear a buzzing sound just now?) and know first hand there is no use in submitting anything that ends with blogspot.com or something like that to these sites, as they are set up to keep such sites away from their front page. Independent blogs and sites don't stand a chance against ghost votes generated from mainstream traffic in this type of algorithm!

Still some of the power users didn't seem at all concerned. One of them even saying "Well they're promising to give publishers the the power. So that should mean I no longer have to play the digg game in order to get my stuff to the front page. I think I'll like that actually!" But I responded "Yeah, but if the power is in the publishers hands and not the users, doesn't it stand to reason that the most powerful publishers (I.E. Mainstream media) will dominate the front page!?" Still there was hope held out. Perhaps I was wrong. Perhaps when the new digg came into play, there would still be a way that users would have a voice. Sadly that hope was stomped into the ground on launch day!

Not only did the new Digg use the same algorithm the other (is there bee in here?) sites used, but it took things a step further! Rather than waiting for a user to submit mainstream content, Digg had RSS feeds in place so that now, a user wasn't even needed in order to get your mainstream content submitted! This ensured that it would not be NEARLY impossible for independent websites to make the front page, but it would be FULLY impossible for them to reach the front page!

The only exceptions are submissions that manage to get hundreds of votes, usually dunning a a slow period when competition is low, to reach the equivalent of the thousands of ghost votes mainstreams sites are getting! Yes, believe it or not, an actual digg is worth more than a ghost vote, in the same way a dollar is worth more than quarter. But which would you rather have, 100 dollars, or 20 dollars and tens of thousands of quarters!? Same goes for Diggs. Would you rather have 100 actual digg votes, or tens of thousands of ghost votes and 20 Digg votes?

But wait, it gets better! Thanks to this algorithm, the traffic Digg sends these sites also count as ghost votes to some extent! Let's say you've subscribed to Reddit, and you see that Reddit has posted something you're curious about, you click the article, but realize it's not that great so you decide not to Digg it. In theory, that doesn't matter because you've already cast a partial vote just by clicking the link! And if you do Digg it, not only does it have your actual Digg vote to promote it, but it also has your ghost vote to support it!

And since each mainstream site has thousands of followers (thanks to Diggs aggressive "suggested users") who will see these articles pop up in their "My News" section (which is the first thing you see when you login to Digg) the site will automatically get several thousand ghost votes from Digg alone, which by itself is nearly enough to hit the front page and gives them, not only a huge leg up on independent sites, but aslo mainstream sites that are not on the "suggested user" list!. Then factor in all the hundreds and thousands of ghost votes the none digg users who are just visiting the site regularly are generating, and it's practically impossible that these mainstream posts will not hit the front page!

And there you have it! That's how 20 Diggs for a mainstream site, beats 100 Diggs for an independent site, or user submitted site! Or at least, that's my theory. If you have a better one, let me know!