Social News Reading a la Digg and More
There was an article in CNET yesterday which made this interesting statement about popular social news site, Digg:
“As a news-sharing destination it’s been eclipsed by both Facebook and Twitter.”
Now I’m no fan of Digg (Read: it’s for boys), but I find it hard to believe that we’re getting more of our news from Facebook. And while, Facebook may be heading in that direction eventually, I also wouldn’t call Facebook a news-sharing destination just yet. Unless you count the news feed as, well, news.
Anyway, I like what Jay Adelson of Digg said in the CNET article: “I think that the sophisticated publisher understands the difference between sharing within a social network, sharing on Twitter, and sharing on Digg.”
I may not like Digg, but I can understand why its demographic keeps returning to the site. By the way, Digg has more traffic than the New York Times or Wall Street Journal. See this chart, by way of Jeremiah Owyang.
My favorite news source, Hacker News, is similar to Digg and another great example of how news is becoming an increasingly social experience. On Hacker News, I’m able to share with and read news and commentary from people I trust, in an area I’m passionate about. Repeat: News and commentary from people I trust. When I log onto the site, I expect a reasonable share of content that interests me. Similar to Digg, links are submitted and up- or downvoted. Though, what really sets Hacker News apart are the substantive comments made by the community. (FWIW, all news sites should consider adding up- or downvotes to increase the quality of comments).
Likewise, Twitter is a great source of news for me. It may just be a quick scan, but it’s a great way to see what else people are reading. Since I choose who I follow (and have organized people into topical areas), news reading through Twitter is both personalized and social.
Now, Instapaper, if only you’d make it easier to do all of this on the go!
