Comments on: Sorry Mike, Digg is NOT a User-Generated Content Site

By: centernetworks

centernetworks — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

thanks for the correction head-ars :)

wonder what ars looks like sans digg.

By: Dave Winer

Dave Winer — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

I think of Digg as an aggregator.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Dig is 100% a UGC site. All my search engine searches seem to bring up digg as a number 1 or 2 spot. background check

By: Watch TV

Watch TV — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

I’d agree except for one thing – the comments – that’s technically ‘user-generated’ – things are shared within the comments as well. But again Digg is mostly an aggregation of user generated content and media endorsed content.

By: Television Now

Television Now — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

By: Tim Marman

Tim Marman — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

It’s all semantics. I mean, I still don’t quite understand the point of an “awards” show for businesses but it’s their awards show, so they can do what they want.

That said, looking at this in a more literal sense of the word, it may still apply – it just depends on what you look at as being as the “content”. Clearly, the articles being linked to are not generated by Digg users during their use of the site, but the ATTENTION data is. And, ultimately, it’s the attention – the “filtering” – that becomes most valuable in sites like this.

So, again, semantics, but there’s certainly a case to include them in such category.

By: Clint Ecker

Clint Ecker — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

AFAIK Digg sends a measurable amount of traffic to Ars, but the vast majority is still our ol’ pal Google

By: boyarul

boyarul — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Yes, I agree. Digg is not a UGC. Perhaps for sites like this one we should invent another term, perhaps UAG (=User Aggregated Content) or CAbU (Content Aggregated by Users)

By: Brij

Brij — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

It should be in the recommendation service category – much like yelp etc.

Instead of feeling good about lamb chops at their favorite restaurant (as in yelp), digg users recommend news they think is worth reading (or trashing).

By: Greg Davies aka cGt2099

Greg Davies aka cGt2099 — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Seriously. Screw Digg. Come to Mixx.com instead. They have cake there.

By: Ross Dawson

Ross Dawson — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

I have long pointed out that creating and filtering content are different activities. User Filtered Content is in fact one of the best ways of understanding how Web 2.0 works. For more detail and frameworks see:
http://www.rossdawsonblog.com/weblog/archives/2008/01/user_filtered_c_1.html

By: Watch TV

Watch TV — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

By: robojiannis

robojiannis — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Very accurate observation. I think the answer to your question is in the eye of the beholder.

One could say, that digg is a site, whose content is generated by users. True. Its content is actually only hyperlinks to other content. This content (the pure hyperlinks) is generated by users, who also vote its popularity.

An interesting question emerges: If you have a link-blog, are you the creator of its content or the targeted links?

Roland Barthes had written an article on this subject in 1967. The death of the author, it was called.

By: Rex

Rex — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Allen once again you hit the nail on the head. UGC aggregator is the correct term for digg. A bunch of competition would be generated for digg at the next crunchies, because it would not be considered UGC – as it is not.

Rex

By: Casper Hauser

Casper Hauser — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Anonymous is right about D. D arouses a lot of user hostility for their practice of political censorship. Reddit has more annoying content, uncensored, true grass roots, not astroturf. D is an aggregator, clearly. The fact that the users play a role in determining the content which is aggregated is significant to the role of D. Other sites, such as Reddit, give users much more control over the selection of the content which is aggregated, and have a better claim to being UGC. But another factor is the comment section. Reddit has a very active community of commentators, while D is largely a couch-potato operation. I would definitely consider Reddit to be UGC on the basis of the commentary dialog content, while that would not be significant in evaluating D relative to UGC.