As a geek in Indonesia, finding online communities with common interests is pretty important. Although we have tons of IT magazines and tabloids, most of my news comes from the Web. By the time it comes to printed media, it's already outdated for me.

I really like Digg.com. It is the ultimate social bookmark Web site which lets people share various sites they've visited or created and allows its readers to decide (or digg) stories they find interesting enough for the front page. Articles with high diggs would ultimately drive tremendous traffic to the unsuspecting Web site--so much so that it can crash the server. This is known as the "digg effect". Better scale your Web sites!

Although it originally started off as a tech-centric site, a virtual gathering place for geeks, Digg recently upgraded its Web application to accommodate other topics of interests such as entertainment, celebrities, politics, business and finance.

But now the same democratizing software can be its downfall.

One of the reasons sites such as Slashdot and Newsforge are popular is that they cater to a select market which shares common likes and dislikes (such as supporting Linux and thumbing our noses at Redmond, home of Microsoft). The "old media" method of editors selecting news fit for publication may seem so Web 1.0, yet it provides readers a snapshot of the day's news from a massive pool of possible storylines.

With Digg 3.0 introducing additional topics and catering to a larger audience, what made it unique may now lead to a morass of links and content. Instead of focusing on technology, there are now a lot more links and news to go through. The site still attracts tech geeks, but now they can be further segmented.

Take a look at the political news and business section. The high number of Diggs on US-based stories reveals an extensive American base, which is fair since they are probably the ranking majority of the site.

But what happens if the demographics change?

Suppose we have more Europeans or Asians or South Americans, how much would the site be different? Instead of having news about an American sheriff, we could perhaps have complaints about a Glasgow soup merchant ("no soup for you!") or more corruption stories from Southeast Asia (which, judging by my local newspapers, is pretty extensive).

Some Internet users cite Digg as a bastion of liberals that can be easily misinformed by slanted news coverage, leading to virtual verbal fisticuffs. What happens if Digg has more conservative users (regardless of nationality) who, by the strength of their majority, can control the editorial content of the site? They can provide the most diggs to a story. Democracy is democracy.

Don’t get me wrong, I still love the site, but I'm worried. For me, technology is a common denominator that always unites geeks of whatever nationality, race, color, creed, etc. We all have a mutual interest in learning more about the world and sharing information. I avoid talking about politics to anyone since everyone has his own point of view, but in technology, we can be comrades-in-arms.

The question now at some point down the road, and it will happen, is when the demographics of the Internet change, how will Digg and its users cope with differing points of view that command the Web site? I am sure many people go to Internet sites they like to read and contribute as well as avoid those espousing conflicting viewpoints.

How open-minded are we all, really?

 

adriyanto
Level:
Indonesia

firdaus
Level:
Indonesia

kukuhtw
Level:

sandynata
Level:
Indonesia

thomasarie
Level:
Indonesia