If Digg is about the users controlling the content, then shouldn’t Diggnation be the same? Why should Kevin Rose and Alex Albrecht (or David Prager) choose the stories, when we could?
Sure, Alex and Kevin only pick stories that are highly popular on the site - which means we do have some say in what’s on the show - but thousands of stories hit the front page of Digg every week.
What I’m proposing is an extra button in Digg a Firefox add-on that, once a user has Dugg a story, will give the option to suggest it for Diggnation. A limit of five or so suggestions per week would be more than enough per user.
The result of this should be a list of what Digg users want covered on this week’s edition of Diggnation. The stories covered in the show would be entirely controlled by the users who have opted-in for this add-on.
On the other hand, it’s Kevin and Alex that make Diggnation what it is, so they would know which stories they can entertain us best with. Diggnation viewers may also not be Digg users at all - their reason for watching Diggnation could be because they don’t want to look through Digg.
What do you think?
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Sure, Facebook could easily be the most active social network right now — but will it keep its position in the years to come? What initially started as an internal site for students in Mark Zuckerberg’s college has expanded into a global phenomenon. Facebook has seen massive growth in the last year. But, like MySpace is slowly becoming — it could become history soon.
I personally prefer Facebook to the other “major” social networks like MySpace and Bebo, because of its simplicity and ease of use. Although, with the launch of Facebook third-party applications, the site has become a lot more cluttered and MySpace-esque. Facebook have managed to keep rolling out new features to keep the users happy so far, including their minimal advertising system. Compared to regular banner advertisements, Facebook have more targeted ads — sometimes including mention of a user’s friend (with their permission).
It’s not all good at Facebook: They have alreaedy been alleged of stealing the idea from ConnectU. Facebook may also not be making as much money as you think; in fact they could be losing it, according to this TechCrunch article.
There are plenty of up-and-coming social networks being created all the time: Some good, some bad. Facebook’s end could be nearer than you think. Or, Facebook could surpass Google and become the biggest website on the Internet, holding all information in one place. The future will be interesting…
Personal blogging isn’t anything new; people have had blogs since the late 90’s — but only recently has it become so easy for anyone to create one. Fully dynamic blogs can be created within seconds using software like WordPress, Blogger or TypePad — all three of these offer free hosting services too.
Gary Vaynerchuk does a good job of explaining why everyone should have an online video show; I’m going to try and do the same for why everyone should have a blog.
Your blog is whatever you want it to be — but whatever it is, it’s original. Here are some reasons why everyone should have a blog:
Your online home
If anyone ever Googles your name, this will be the first result (in most cases). This means that people who know you can find you online; your blog could potentially be a meeting point for old friends.
Make your view heard
Blogging is all about your opinion, and it’s one of the best ways to get it out there. Sometimes, if people agree with your view, you’ll get a lot of publicity from social news websites like Digg linking to you — suddenly your blog becomes the centre of attention — all because of your opinion.
Unleash your creativity
Not all of us will have the opportunity to write a book — but we can all write a blog. Share your thoughts, photos, videos and more to the world. It doesn’t matter if everyone doesn’t like what you share, but out of the millions of people in the world, someone will.
It’s the new media
Mainstream media is slowly diminishing: Newspapers are becoming blogs; TV Shows are becoming YouTube shows; Radio shows are becoming podcasts. The future is on the internet, and blogging will be even bigger than it is today — establishing a domain and blog early may help you in the future.
If you use the internet, it’s more than likely that you’re on at least one social network — for many of us, it’s more than one. These five guidelines should help you have a better presence on the internet, and allow others to find you more easily.
1. Use a consistent username
This is something I haven’t done in the past, but is essential. Having the same username means that if I know someone, e.g. “Nick”, I can easily go to twitter.com/nick, flickr.com/people/nick, etc.- without even needing to search. Using the same username also groups your accounts under a Google search for the name. I recommend using your real name, or at least some element of your name.
2. Have a memorable avatar
Sometimes people talk to me on IM and know my name — I ask them how they know, and the answer is usually: “I recognized your avatar”. Think up something original and simple; the same consistency rule applies here, too: Use the same avatar everywhere — services like Gravatar make this somewhat easier.
3. Use your real name
Using your real name on social networks will help people that know you find you, and gives a list of your online presence under a Google search for your name. When someone adds you on one social network, they might often search for you on another one — if they see your name, they will most likely add you there too.
4. Add the people that add you
That, of course, doesn’t include spammers — no one should add them. But the regular people who have added you or followed you should be added back. This might encourage a conversation, which could bring more followers/friends to you — it’s also just nice when you get an add back from someone.
5. Organize your social profiles
I use a service called ClaimID. All I do is add the links to my profiles on all of the social networks, and it creates a list. It’s useful to have a list like this, so that people can easily add you on multiple networks — plus, it’s useful to have a list yourself; I’m registered on so many websites that I sometimes forget which ones I’m on.
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