Social Networking, Digg & Groundswell

Digital stuff: Digg’s Social Network

Josh Bernoff, co-author of "Groundswell," defines social techographics as “the classification of people according to how they use social media.”

Social networking is a new technology that allows people to interact and share with one another text, pictures, voiceovers and more. Examples of social networks are Facebook, Twitter and Digg. Digg is a social media network that was founded by Kevin Rose in San Francisco Calif., on Dec. 5, 2004. It is available in different languages and uses banner ads and referral marketing as its two main advertising tools. Digg has a much smaller staff than Facebook and Twitter. Jay Adelson is the chief executive officer of Digg, along with John Muffet, who is the chief financial officer. The creative director is Daniel Burka. According to Digg’s Web site, Digg is “democratizing” digital media. As a user, you can participate in determining all site content by discovering, selecting, sharing, discussing the news and videos that appeal to you. Digg does exactly what the Website says, “dig." You dig for information you like best and contribute to the popularity of any item you find. If you find links or stories that are irrelevant or not good, you can “bury” them. You are literally digging and burying information (Digg.com).

Many of Digg's new developments are improvements and features on its Website. Digg has three main functions: Digg Dialog, Digg Bar and Digg API. Digg Dialog is a program that allows Digg users to create questions and send to a preselected famous individual who agrees to do an interview with a reporter chosen by Digg.

In May 2009, Digg created a new feature integrating Facebook Connect with its social network. Digg’s integration with Facebook Connect allows users of Digg and Facebook to connect their accounts similar to the way Twitter and Facebook can be linked (Facebook.com and Digg.com).

Digg is a user-friendly Website that can be helpful for those in the PR field because of it is easy to use. It provides news and content that helps PR people keep up with the latest topics and trends via the news. I recommend every PR practitioner become familiar with this application.


References
- Josh Bernoff (Groundswell)
-www.digg.com
-www.facebook.com