Matt, from 37Signals, wigged out today and ranted on hypericonography at the bottom of blog posts. He makes this simple statement that is the crux of the whole issue:
The reason posts wind up at Digg, Delicious, or elsewhere isn’t because the authors made it easier to vote for them (it’s already easy).
I never use those buttons because my appropriate icons are either right clicks or on my toolbar.
As a blogger, how do you interact with social bookmarking? Is it as simple as creating good content?
If you look at usage on Digg, you will see that the dynamics of digging are highly derivative. Stamen Design did an interesting timelapse visualization (which I can't find on the net) of digging on Digg. It showed that one super user would digg a whole bunch of crap at superhuman speed.
He was an influencer.
Then a bunch of others would just mechanically digg what he did.
So, content doesn't really mean much in that situation. The main use of Digg isn't people reading the stuff and liking it and Digging it, it's people Digging a whole bunch to game the system.
Therefore, your entrance into Diggland has more to do with your being on the radar of the superusers than it does the quality of your content.
I agree with Matt's gripe - but not the conclusion that quality drives bookmarking. I wish it did. I really do.
Written with Windows Live Writer at Magnolia Neighborhood Pub in Seattle.
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