Be popular on Digg

I recently joined Digg and I’ve been perusing the pages of this virtual news source… basically trying to figure out what it takes to make it on the most “popular” list.

There’s such a wide variety of material that receives top diggs – the articles are always interesting and quirky, but determining what kind of stuff gets dugg still boggles me. Or perhaps it’s more a question of, “Hey, I submitted 2 of my blog posts to rub my ego and no one is digging it. (Sad emoticon)” So far my 2 posts have been dugg a grand total of 7 times – and that’s the total all together. It seems I’m doomed to remain on the shelf of “stuff that no one ever sees”… at least on Digg anyways.

Though my ego has suffered minor bruising, I don’t kid myself. In reality I know Digg is also about who you know and how active you are in the community. (There’s got to be a reason why the same familiar faces are always getting their stuff dugg, right? The conspiracy theory side of me believes those articles I read about Digg bias and how it all might be controlled by 200 users or something.)

Nonetheless, I did some online research into ways I could increase my digg count. The ultimate strategy seems to boil down to:

1) Make a ton of friends on Digg… and I mean, A TON. Like around 300+ and was some dude’s minimum recommendation. (Also important to note is that friendship is not a one-way street. The ones that count and work to help you are the “mutual friends.” Otherwise, it just looks kind of sad. Oh, and it helps if your friends are popular, or top diggers.)

2) Digg your butt off. But make sure your diggs are meaningful. Don’t just zip down the list and engage in bulk digging. Eventually (around 15 or so) Digg will catch you and a box will pop up suggesting – with their eyebrow raised – that you perhaps should READ the articles since you seem to be digging at a superhuman rate, and unless you’re a superhero, it would be difficult to read that fast. (Don’t ask me how I know this.)

3) Submit content that could interest the Digg crowd. (Okay yes, I may be bias but I stand firm in my belief that my content is at least decently interesting that people may be persuaded to give it a once-over if afforded the opportunity. Despite the fact that I sometimes ramble or go on tangents.)

I’m currently testing the strategies – progress seems slow thus far but I’ll keep persevering. I’m thinking I’m bound to make a dent soon…

In the meantime, I’ve been enjoying seeing what’s most popular on Digg. It’s kind of interesting to notice the trends of what’s popular recently, versus a day ago, versus even a year ago. Perhaps we can draw conclusions about what Digg users, or our society at large, finds most intriguing. (But maybe that’s too philosophical.) Anyways, results were so interesting/amusing that I decided to take screenshots and share. Maybe this will help all the noob diggers like myself out there break through the invisible barrier and make it to the front page.

[Note: I’m ignoring the “Sponsored by” posts since they get special treatment.]

What’s popular recently: (Eerr, or at least popular back when I posted) Top 3 stories feature a Canon sales page discussing their latest talking printer, an endearing image where a small kitten is being squished by a large dog (“Dood, moovs over!”), and a funny political video featuring Jon Stewart with a catchy headline. I noticed the “what’s popular recently” section always seems like a hodgepodge of material. Most of it tickles the funny bone, but there’s a lot of science and tech material periodically thrown in.

What’s popular 24 hours ago: Video, comic and photo… all funny. One features Santa Clause – it’s a hot topic, everyone loves Santa.

What’s popular 7 days ago: A creepy image (perhaps classifiable under science fiction?), funny Facebook status updates and another funny comic.

What’s popular 30 days ago: More funny. Facebook status updates (round 2), a pseudo-creepy image (round 2) and a tense message board exchange between a gamer and admin accusing him of warping time to cheat. Hm.

What’s popular 365 days ago: It looked like it was just funny pop culture stuff… but society is redeemed since the top diggs of the year relate to Obama!

What does this mean? I’m considering photoshop-ing a funny image featuring Obama and Santa. Wish me luck.

Explore posts in the same categories: How to tips, Social media buzz

Tags: digg, entertainment, social bookmarking

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