Now, I’ve read story upon story concerning the DiggBar. Bloggers have been attacking it, Digg has been defending it, and just a few people have taken the time to truly think about its true meaning. Ted points out some important facts and explanations about the reasoning behind the DiggBar (You really should take the time to read his article). And, while bloggers should be angry that Digg is pulling this kind of “sleazy shit,” that doesn’t mean that the kind of ultra-negative response is warranted. You can’t forget that Digg does control a large number of readers and has the capability to drive a massive amount of traffic towards your blog, so an intense, anti-Digg reaction may not be proper.
Meet in the Middle
The DiggBar has made it obvious that Digg is feeling the heat to deliver, and in tough times like these, childish bickering on both sides is counterproductive to the best interests of both parties. Instead, I propose that bloggers and other content producers work on meeting Digg in the middle. Digg has shown that to they need to maintain the readership and involvement of their users, and bloggers often rely on the readership that sites like Digg can bring to them. I guess, in a sense, that I’m asking for Digg to realize the mistakes they’ve made, and work with bloggers to find a solution to this. Bloggers, in return, need to realize that Digg is facing difficulties and work with Digg to help Digg help them.
A possible solution would be to have Digg act more like a true URL shortening service. This means providing actual 301 redirects and being more SEO-friendly. I happen to remember Digg saying that the ‘Bar was for their users. So why not target the DiggBar to the actual Digg users and let everyone else browse in bliss? The current heavy handed tactics of imposing the DiggBar on everyone make me think of the massive corporations with little experience with the Internet and who are accustomed to running roughshod over customers. Digg needs to clean up their act and begin working both sides of their profit aisle, target the DiggBar towards actual Digg users, while allowing everyone else to enjoy the handy URL-shortening service without being forced to bust out of frames.
