Monday, April 5, 2010

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

1 comment:

  1. Digg is a unique application that will set the stage for new innovations and ideas on a global platform. This blog does a great job of highlighting the fact that Digg has the overall capability to find any type of information on the Internet and publish it for the entire world to view in a highly accessible fashion. In my opinion, this application is unique because it performs a much more critical search than Google. Google allows a user to type in any word and the site automatically directs them to where the word was published on the Internet. Not only does Digg identify where the word or name was mentioned, but it also opens up a conversation about the published information with millions of people. Users can post videos, blogs, articles, ideas, thoughts and any other content that they want the public to view. The application is special because it provides the avenue for an idea to be discovered through a push strategy. Digg pushes published content to the forefront of the viewer’s attention in a way that no other digital application has had the capacity to do.
    Digg is so important to public relations because it allows companies and other institutions to post information that is valuable to the consumer in a way that will attract global attention. If enough people interact with the information posted, then the public relations goal of the company will be achieved because it has increased brand awareness through a cost effective manner. Public relations practitioners are always looking for more avenues to generate conversation and Digg certainly provides that outlet.
    For the general community, Digg gives the public a way to exercise their First Amendment right to the highest degree. Digg allows users to post content online without worrying about if a supervisor will edit it. This one freedom gives the user the ability to advocate and communicate in a way that appropriately reflects their thoughts, opinions and beliefs. These users are able to share and control the content that they deem important. I think that Chelsea has chosen a phenomenal application to research simply because Digg gives the public the chance to discover and the power to control popular media.

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