In case you haven’t heard, yesterday Digg removed the controversial “shout†feature that allowed users to share stories with one another. This feature was Digg’s only internal tool for communication that was put in place a little over a year and a half ago.
History
Shouts were supposed to even the playing field between ‘power users’ and the common Digger. This feature allowed users to select a story that they enjoyed and send it directly to their friends on Digg. Shouts did empower numerous Digg users and did help more stories gain awareness and become popular when otherwise they might not have. However, one major problem occurred, the majority of users abused this, and used it as a spammy broadcast tool. This turned off many long-time users who turned off shouts, or simply left the site.
Unfortunately, the problem with the system could not be fixed by just shutting it off. This add-on turned the site from a ‘pull-oriented’ site where users scanned the best submissions to a ‘push-oriented’ site where votes on stories with shouts were hyper-inflated. This bloated vote count would force the shouted stories to dwarf any regular submissions. A quality post that wasn’t shouted might receive ½ the votes (and visibility) as a story promoted using the shout feature. Much like the steroid era of the baseball, the majority of member began shouting all of their stories just to keep afloat.
The Resolution
Digg has been eventually tuning its algorithm to try to discount the value of shouts, but at the end of the day it simply wasn’t working. The first step in the direction of external promotion was the import of stories to Facebook that allowed users to share their Digg activity with friends. The DiggBar and DiggURL were the next steps to move away from shouts, as it gave users the power to share on both Twitter and Faceboook with ease. When they announced that they were moving to a “real-time†share system last week they finally admitted that the current internal promotion system was not working.
Now, all internal communication has been silenced and Digg is forcing its users away from the site to socialize. This makes sense for Digg, because they can possibly gain a larger audience. However, this is a risky move, as Digg is forcing users off of the site and onto other social sites. Twitter has already demonstrated that popular stories can be aggregated in a Digg like fashion.
What Will Happen to Digg?
After the shout-pocalypse I believe that Digg will be a better place from a content perspective. Average stories won’t be artificially inflated; articles will be back to being judged based on their content … not on who has motives behind it. Without inflated (and irrelevant) votes, the Recommendation Engine will become a better asset for its heavy users.
One major negative byproduct of this shift to external promotion will be the loads of user endorsements that will soon flood your Twitter stream, Facebook wall or your inbox.
Thoughts on the Decision
From a company perspective, I would never advocate sending users off-site for communication. Digg has always flourished because it truly was a ‘social’ site where you could add friends, images and links, this however is a step in the opposite direction.
I had always believed that it wasn’t the concept of the shout system that was flawed, rather that it was the allotted usage that was the culprit. When you allow all users to promote every story, the value of that promotion is voided, much like using the bold typography for an entire paragraph. I think a solution that would have pleased both parties would have been a 1 shout per 24 hour limit, so users could only share their best find of the day.
Conclusion
While this may be a large change for many users, this change should help to increase the quality of content on Digg. Whether you like it or not, the termination of shouts is now just another part of life, and another adaptation that active users will have to make.
Will it piss off those users that rely on shouts? Absolutely.
Will it make it harder to get your stories on Digg? Not if your content is awesome.
Will it add more Digg SPAM to Twitter, Facebook and Email? Without a doubt.
What do you think? Will Digg be better or worse without Shouts?
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While there has been a rather large commotion (mostly negative) about the recent release of the DiggBar we have been watching and tracking its usage to find out how the community actually uses it.  Surprisingly, we have found many beneficial aspects to the bar, and discovered a handful of ways that you can use the DiggBar or a shortened URL( DiggURL) help your success on Digg.
(If you haven’t seen the DiggBar yet, check the following video)
Who Sees The DiggBar
Many people will argue that framing a website is intrinsically evil. If you are one of this mindset, I would like to say that Digg’s most recent changes have honestly attempted to make the frame visible only to those who choose to view it, though it still does frame a website. So before we get into the benefits of the DiggBar, we can take a look at who will and will not see the DiggBar to begin with:
1. Users who don’t have a Digg account won’t see it
When the DiggBar first was released, all Digg users were sent to the DiggBar’ed story (unless they chose to always have it shut off.) After a large outcry from casual users of the site and publishers, Digg went ahead and removed it completely on outbound links for users who were not currently logged in with a Digg account.
What this means: The casual bloggers/publishers/lurkers who are trolling for stories on the site will never be fed a story that is DiggBar’ed unless they are currently logged in with the DiggBar turned on. They will receive the clean link directly to the source.
2. Users with a Digg account who dislike can opt to NEVER see it
One of the nice things that Digg did do with the bar is to make it extremely easy to turn it off forever. There are two easy ways that you can use to turn off the DiggBar:
- from the DiggBar Itself
- from your personal options
Now, the really cool feature of the shortened DiggURL is that, even if you have an account and someone sends you that shortened URL (and your preferences are off), you will be redirected to the story page. The only way that you can ever see the DiggBar is if you opt to by manually typing digg.com/ before your URL .
What this means: Not all Diggers will see the DiggBar.  Unlike those horridly annoying ow.ly domains from HootSuite on Twitter, BurnURL or any other framed in service – the DiggBar is essentially only shown to those who actually want to see it.
3. If you don’t want anyone to see it, you can choose not to
While the DiggBar was intended to help Diggers find great content and vote on it, at the end of the day, it is your site and you can choose to not allow anyone to frame it. Many sites (even the New York Times) bust frames, so even those users who opt in to view the DiggBar will be directed to the main article.
Here are some resources on  how to break frames:
- Breaking Out of Frames with JavaScript
- Wikipedia includes a JavaScript variation that includes a popup as to why you will be redirected
- Also, if you have a WordPress blog, the plugin “Diggbarred” can be installed to block the DiggBar in its entirety.
What this means: If you finish reading this article and still hate the DiggBar, you can make sure that nobody else out there will see it … even if they wanted to.
How the DiggBar Can Help You
So even though the DiggBar does frame a website, you can use this frame to your advantage, here’s how:
1. This one of the largest ‘approved’ ways to share your content off-site
Digg has been known to enforce very stringent bannings on violations of Digg’s Terms of Use. However, this form of promotion and sharing is not only acceptable, but encouraged. The DiggBar allows you to share by email, Facebook or Twitter. Emailing has always been an approved method of sharing, but now you can share your submissions directly on Twitter win a 100% approved fashion:
2. It allows for a quick check to see if a story has been submitted
Digg has not been the most receptive to the use of its API to aid users. Instead of relying on 3rd party add-ons or plugins, you can now simply toss a “digg.com/” in front of any address to see if it has been previously submitted. This is a simple and easy way to see if a story you find has already been submitted.
3. You can share content and people will know your intent (& you won’t look spammy)
On Twitter or Facebook if you are attempting to share your story to increase the number of diggs, many times non-users simply don’t understand. When sharing a DiggUrl, those who have an account and proper permission will see the DiggBar and give a vote if worthy, those who don’t participate in Digg will just be served the regular page – no harm done. Before the DiggUrl and DiggBar, users on Twitter would try tagging tweets, sending to the Digg page itself and asking for Diggs. The DiggURL makes it simple and straightforward; if you have an account, you understand the motive.
4. Users who enjoy the DiggBar will have an easier time voting for your articles
Believe it or not, there are users out there that enjoy the DiggBar. It makes it easy to see the best comments, share good links and most importantly vote on articles that they deem worthy. Digg has been ever changing to make it harder and harder to vote for stories that users enjoy. The DiggBar is a step in the opposite direction, as users can vote quickly and easily, without having to flip back to the Digg page where they discovered the content. Undoubtedly, the DiggBar will increase user votes and votes for your content.
5. People can get more information on a topic w/related articles’
The DiggBar not only helps to garner votes, but can also drive more traffic to your content. The “Related…” button will show users similar articles that have been on Digg. These articles have already been popular, but the Related feature helps those who are passionate about a topic discover more information in a quick and simple manner.
6. Random button can get your information more views
Much like the “Related…” button, the “Random” button can help to boost your stories visibility. The random button will display a recent story that was popular on Digg to a user. This operates similar to StumbleUpon, and could get your content in front of fresh eyes; people who may not have clicked your link from the Title and Description alone….
Conclusion
Yes, it’s true that the DiggBar frames your content, its also true that many people don’t like it – but this doesn’t mean that you should avoid its benefits if you are active on Digg. Also, give Digg a good deal of credit as they have made this least intrusive “framed bars” as possible. The DiggBar can be turned off at anytime, will never be shown to other users, and is 301′ed to the proper article – something that the popular ow.ly or burnurl can’t claim. So feel free to embrace the DiggBar and use it to your advantage … as it isn’t going away anytime soon!
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