11 Tips to Enhance Your Digg User Experience (and Hopefully Bring You Front Page Fame)
Posted by Tamar Weinberg on August 9th, 2007
Just a few months ago, I had a love-hate relationship with Digg. Now, after acquainting myself with the system and learning more about what works and what doesn’t, I’m one of the top users of the service. Do I still hate Digg? Occasionally. After all, Digg is a social network that unifies individuals with different opinions. You can definitely expect the unexpected here. Additionally, there are a few fixes I still hope to see for the Digg experience to be improved for all users. But do I still love Digg? I think that answer is self-evident. I find most of my interesting news from Digg, and I consider my knowledge of everyday news to be a lot more comprehensive now that I am an avid user of the service.
On Monday, I celebrated my one-year anniversary as a Digg member. After using Digg quite regularly lately in the latter part of my membership at Digg, I’ve gotten acclimated to the service and to the likes and dislikes of others. Granted, I don’t know everything, but I feel that I’ve gotten a pretty solid feel for what works and what doesn’t. Here are some tips that should help you get the most out of Digg too.
Tip #1: Distinguish Yourself by Choosing an Avatar.
Look at this picture. Look again. Is there anything that draws you to any particular portion of the page? Probably not. When you’re looking in a sea of brand new stories listed on the Digg upcoming page (which is where regular users occasionally scout for new stories), submissions without avatars simply lack personality. With 15 submissions per page and hundreds of submissions hourly, you want to have something more to offer to your potential audience. Consider what it looks like to others when the avatars look as boring as the words on the page. They blend into the background.
Now look at the difference on the upcoming page when someone who submits a story actually has uploaded an avatar:
It’s only a subtle differentiation, but when you’re staring at numerous stories jumbled with small photos, you often find yourself taking a second glance. If you’re looking closely enough, the submission with the avatar should stand out at you and attract your attention. It should bring your awareness to the single “different” submission in the pool of other “noisy” Digg submissions that lack personality.
As a personal preference, it’s useful to have a darker avatar because those stand out more than the lighter ones. However, any loud color or design works. Don’t choose an avatar that will blend in with the default avatar though, because your intention should be to allow other users to make a distinction when they see upcoming stories and not redundancy.
Tip #2: Don’t submit a blog entry if it is just a shortened recap of a bigger story.
Many Diggers hate blogspam. In fact, I know that Digg has banned individuals who submitted stories that were repeated recaps of larger news stories (due to complaints from members, since, after all, Digg is a democratic system). Don’t think that it won’t get you buried, or worse, get a URL banned from the service. Thus, if it’s obvious that your story was taken from a popular news site, submit that news site. Did someone else submit it already? If you have something of great value to provide to your audience and you firmly believe it deserves a Digg mention, expound upon the article, cite other sources, and feel free to submit it as your own (with a description that fits the bill). After all, the Digg FAQ does have a section for “duplicate submissions,” where they say:
Is it a duplicate story if I submit a similar story but from a different source?
That isn’t for us to decide. Sometimes there is a better story from another news outlet. We let our users determine that aspect of duplicate submissions. It is, however, a duplicate story if you submit the same story from the same source.
Oh, but their duplicate detection system isn’t foolproof, you see. Digg’s FAQ also says: “We strongly discourage the submission of duplicate stories as it only steals credit from the first submitter.” I kind of emphasize this sentence because it’s my biggest gripe about Digg. After all, it’s happened to me at least four times (1a/1b/1c; 2a/2b; 3a/3b/3c; 4a/4b). Thus, Digg is susceptible to gaming you can get some pretty good stories promoted if you’re super-fast (hidden tip). (Now, Digg, can you please fix it?)
Tip #3: Make Friends and Network.
Regardless of what people say, Digg is inherently a social news network. You can befriend people and they can befriend you. Befriending users allows you to associate with those who have similar interests. I’ve seen “cliques” revolve around stories that are political in nature, and I’ve also seen TV/movie-based friendship circles. See the image on the right hand side? It’s not a Digg link (so don’t bother clicking on it). The green star on the top of the Digg button indicates that one or more of your friends has Dugg the story. Once you start adding friends, and once one of those friends Diggs a story, the green star appears on the top left hand corner of every Digg button so that you can easily see what your friends are interested in. It also helps me get an idea of who I should also network with, since I typically find upcoming stories through my personalized upcoming friends’ stories link.
Networking is a super important, if not the most important part of Digg. While Digg doesn’t allow private messaging on the service, there are many alternatives that Digg users have entertained for communication.
But there’s a right way and a wrong way to go about networking. I’ve received a fair share of IMs and emails from people who would simply say “Hi, I see you’re great at Digg. How about you Digg my stories and I Digg yours?” That’s not going to work, guys. Networking typically involves a lot more than superficial communication. If you’re just looking for a front page story from users who don’t have an interest in the story (or in you), you won’t hit the front page. That means there’s no place on Digg for SEO stories (you’ve got Sphinn for that), and Ron Paul has overstayed his welcome everywhere on the Internet. (In fact, most top Digg users hate him now due to the notoriously awful gaming of Digg for his campaign promotion.) You also won’t see a story like this hit the Digg front page (look at the domain that’s originating from!) but it seemed to have fared well on StumbleUpon.
Tip #4: Use a good title and description.
I think it goes without saying that a lot of users venture to Digg.com, browse headlines that interest them, Digg the story, and then leave the site. While some sites that are linked from Digg boast 15,000-90,000 unique visitors from Digg, think about how many people are actually reading the title and description of the submission and who don’t click on the link. Write something that compels them to react and do so.
This, for example, doesn’t work. Needless to say, it is also spam.
Another personal preference: Titles Can Be Written Like This, But Please Don’t Write Your Descriptions Like This. (Pretty please, Russ?)
Tip #5: Comment… but also Digg the story.
If you have something useful to say, say it! But if you say it and you vouch for the story, your comment won’t serve as a vote, so make sure to Digg the story too. I’ve seen people say that they totally agree with a specific Digg submission (in the comments) but yet don’t vote for the story. Each individual votes actually counts, but comment interaction helps too. Participate in both.
This isn’t just a flaw for Digg. It’s a flaw for other social networks as well. If you’re going to comment in agreement (and not with criticism), please vote for the story. Otherwise, you’re exhibiting a certain kind of “I don’t really know how to use this service.”
Tip #6: Don’t Spam Keywords.
This is pretty much self-explanatory. I’m not sure what this guy was getting out in the image below, but it doesn’t do anything for your site’s visibility. On that note, remember that Digg users seek viral content.
Tip #7: Don’t utilize gaming systems.
If you missed my blog post on Subvert and Profit, you should take a look at it after you finish reading this list of tips. In essence, there are no guarantees when utilizing systems that intend to take advantage of Digg’s weaknesses, and this might be why Digg bury data is still not available for public consumption. Even so, if your story isn’t Digg material, it won’t hit the main page because the wisdom of crowds simply won’t let it get there… or the time on the front page will be short-lived.
Tip #8: Digg is an English-Speaking site.
This one comes from the Digg rules themselves:
Digg is currently only an English-language content site. Please do not submit non-English content.
That said, I’m not sure why people are determined to get traffic from Digg when the Digg audience is an English-speaking crowd. The only non-English stories I’ve ever seen hit the Digg main page were stories written in hexadecimal, and those stories were actually understandable by a largely tech crowd.
Therefore, these won’t work, but, uh, thanks:
LOLcats stuff still has growth potential, though — if you can be super original.
Tip #9: Learn if your stories are buried.
Digg bury data isn’t publicly available by Digg themselves, but it is available. I’ve noticed that you can also find out if your story is buried by going to the Digg Upcoming Stories page and by navigating to the page that corresponds to the number of Diggs you have. If your submission is missing, it’s gone. The URL search updates with the buried data much later for some odd reason. Your best bet would be to check the Upcoming Stories links.
Tip #10: Subscribe to Digg’s RSS Feed.
Want to know what makes Digg and what doesn’t? Sure, you can navigate to the front page of Digg and then click a few pages deep. But the popular stories on Digg shift with trends; the iPhone stories are getting old now, and people are even being bothered by Google stories. Not long ago, however, both stories were once all over the front page. Tuesday’s Apple event had numerous front-pagers, but the submissions about Apple that were submitted later in the day were ignored because of redundancy. It helps to be first, but it doesn’t always work to your benefit (see gripe in Tip #2).
Tip #11: Show some activity.
Digg is community where being involved on a semi-regular to regular basis will help your chances of being noticed. It’s not about submitting a story, asking 30 friends to Digg it for you, and your work is done. You can even log onto Digg.com just a few times a week, check the top stories, and then check the Upcoming Stories and push some of those to the top. In time, people will acknowledge you.
One other thing is that you don’t have to Digg the most upcoming stories. Submitters also take note of people who Digg stories when they don’t necessarily have that many votes (note that that is a URL specific to my account, but it should illustrate what I am trying to get at). Typically, you can build friendships more easily when the submitter notices that you just Dugg his/her story right around the time it was submitted. I’ve seen people befriend me simply on that activity alone.
Conclusion
While some of these tips are downright obvious, some are a little harder to come by and require a bit more commitment and time. Just like friendships take time and energy to develop, your Digg user experience will be greatly enhanced by your dedication to the service. It’s not an overnight process, but the returns on your investment should be obvious after awhile.
And now, I’m sure you’ve asked, since there should be a good amount of useful information here: why did I share this?
As Baron VC once said in his own post with Digg tips:
Well, I think claims that Digg is controlled by a small minority is over blown. I also think there are some great users with good stories that are dying simply because they don’t network enough. Frankly, the ranks of top Digg users could use a shake up to keep articles on Digg more diverse.
Therefore, I hope to see you on the front page sometime soon too.
As I look back at one year of Digging, I’m the 69th top active user on Digg with 121 front page stories, and in the past 30 days alone, I’m ranked #5. But stay tuned: I’m not done yet. There are definitely more stories to come. 
54 Responses to “11 Tips to Enhance Your Digg User Experience (and Hopefully Bring You Front Page Fame)”
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share.websitemagazine.com Says:
August 9th, 2007 at 10:47 am11 Tips to Enhance Your Digg User Experience (and Hopefully Bring You Front Page Fame) » techipedia | tamar weinberg’s b
Just a few months ago, I had a love-hate relationship with Digg. Now, after acquainting myself with the system and learning more about what works and what doesn’t, I’m one of the top users of the service.
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SearchCap: The Day In Search, August 9, 2007 | Seo Alchemist Says:
August 9th, 2007 at 6:38 pm[...] 11 Tips to Enhance Your Digg User Experience (and Hopefully Bring You Front Page Fame), Techipedia [...]
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Social Poster » 11 Tips for diggers Says:
August 9th, 2007 at 7:42 pm[...] User Experience (and Hopefully Bring You Front Page Fame) [...]
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How To Find The Hottest Breaking Stories On Sphinn | Andy Beard - Niche Marketing Says:
August 10th, 2007 at 4:22 pm[...] 11 Tips to Enhance Your Digg User Experience (and Hopefully Bring You Front Page Fame) - Tamar is on my Digg friends list, but also on Pownce and Twitter - the strategies she discussses I know she uses, and it has borught her success. It is a shame she didn't go into more detail on Digg Friends. [...]
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Some Great Articles From Sphinn!- My Favorites for the Week- Aug 10-07 Says:
August 10th, 2007 at 9:19 pm[...] 11 Tips to Enhance Your Digg User Experience (and Hopefully Bring You Front Page Fame) [...]
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Friday Night Link-o-rama » Small Business SEM Says:
August 11th, 2007 at 12:26 am[...] 11 Tips to Enhance Your Digg User Experience (and Hopefully Bring You Front Page Fame) [...]
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GroundFloorSEO.com | Top SEO Blogs & Bloggers » Links for 2007-08-09 [del.icio.us] Says:
August 11th, 2007 at 11:11 pm[...] 11 Tips to Enhance Your Digg User Experience (and Hopefully Bring You Front Page Fame) » techi… [...]
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SearchCap: The Day In Search, August 9, 2007 Says:
August 12th, 2007 at 1:09 pm[...] 11 Tips to Enhance Your Digg User Experience (and Hopefully Bring You Front Page Fame), Techipedia [...]
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GroundFloorSEO.com | Top SEO Blogs & Bloggers » Friday Night Link-o-rama Says:
August 12th, 2007 at 9:50 pm[...] 11 Tips to Enhance Your Digg User Experience (and Hopefully Bring You Front Page Fame) [...]
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How to be a Master in the dark art of Social Marketing Says:
August 14th, 2007 at 1:09 am[...] A master of this philosophy is Tamar of New York social media marketing fame. In a recent post she gives an excellent guide on how to get success when using social media sites to build traffic. [...]
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Digg Tips | Increase Digg Visibility Says:
August 15th, 2007 at 12:26 pm[...] Read the full Article: 11 Tips to Enhance Your Digg User Experience (and Hopefully Bring You Front Page Fame) [...]
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Link Sharing: 8/16/07 » Webomatica - tech, movies, music blog Says:
August 16th, 2007 at 7:49 am[...] California Pizza Guy Wins Prize In Italy: How about the Indian pizza next…Some Quick Tips On Using Digg From A Top Digger [...]
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Best of Feeds - 30 links - blogging, humor, geek, problogger, design « Internet Duct Tape Says:
August 18th, 2007 at 11:01 am[...] [DIGG] 11 Tips to Enhance Your Digg User Experience (and Hopefully Bring You Front Page Fame) (techipedia.com, 22 saves, 15 inbound links, 87 diggs) [...]
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Stealing Avatars: Identify Theft 2.0 : Instigator Blog Says:
August 23rd, 2007 at 8:04 am[...] Tamar Weinberg recently wrote: 11 Tips to Enhance Your Digg User Experience (and Hopefully Bring You Front Page Fame). [...]
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Brain Broadcast - Web Identity « The Uncanny Broadcasting Brain Says:
August 23rd, 2007 at 11:44 am[...] article by Ben Yoskovitz was inspired by this article, which talked about ways to be more “successful” at Digg, including the use of an [...]
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Search Marketing Digest - Social Media Best Practices - KoMarketing Associates Says:
August 24th, 2007 at 4:14 pm[...] 11 Tips to Enhance Your Digg User Experience - a detailed look at how to spend time and effort when trying to succeed at getting on the popular page of Digg. Tamar Weinberg is a Top 100 Digg user, with a 50% success rate on getting listed there. [...]
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An Open Letter to Kevin Rose » techipedia | tamar weinberg’s blog of stuff Says:
September 7th, 2007 at 9:19 am[...] 11 Tips to Enhance Your Digg User Experience (and Hopefully Bring You Front Page Fame) [...]
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SEO...What Is It? Why Do You Need It? Part 3, SMO- Social Media Optimization Says:
September 10th, 2007 at 4:34 pm[...] Tamar Weinberg has a great article on how to be successful with Digg. Earner$ Blog also has an educational article about [...]
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5 Things To Do In 5 Minutes Says:
October 5th, 2007 at 10:09 am[...] 11 Tips to Enhance Your Digg User Experience (and Hopefully Bring You Front Page Fame) - Converting Diggers: How To Maximise Getting [...]
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SMX Social Media Recap » techipedia | tamar weinberg Says:
October 18th, 2007 at 8:51 pm[...] how it can be used to bring your message to the attention of the public. I alluded to some of my 11 Digg tricks and referred to my 29 Digg API tools to improve the Digging experience. Andy Greenberg at Forbes [...]
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Please Don’t Ask Me to Sphinn Your Stories (and How to Use Sphinn and Similar Social News Websites) » techipedia | tamar weinberg Says:
October 26th, 2007 at 3:22 pm[...] other tips work for any social media site and I’ve discussed them in more detail in my Digg tips as [...]
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Virtual Hosting Blog » The Digg Toolbox: 70+ Digg-related Scripts, Tools, and Tutorials Says:
October 30th, 2007 at 10:27 am[...] 11 Tips to Enhance Your Digg User Experience: This article, from the blog Techipedia, shares tips like how to “make friends and network”, “learn how to distinguish yourself”, and “don’t spam keywords”. [...]
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Heroes of eBusiness » Blog Archive » 11 Tips to Enhance Your Digg User Experience Says:
October 31st, 2007 at 8:42 pm[...] 11 Tips to Enhance Your Digg User Experience [...]
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75 Suggestions, Best Practices & Resources for Digg - KoMarketing Associates Says:
November 13th, 2007 at 11:11 am[...] Don’t duplicate things that have not succeeded (research what has succeeded in making the Digg home page) [...]
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Social Media: It’s No Longer Every Man for Himself » techipedia | tamar weinberg Says:
November 20th, 2007 at 3:43 pm[...] social media, networking is of utmost importance (see tip #3). Without getting to know your surroundings and the people within, you’re as good as nobody. [...]
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7 Reasons Why You’ll Click on Everything I Post Says:
December 19th, 2007 at 2:58 am[...] Why get lost in a sea of default icons? Tamar “Schwagwhore” Weinberg wrotoe a good piece on Digg default icons making the difference in the upcoming section of [...]
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Digg is not a home run derby - it is being part of a team | Broadcasting Brain Says:
February 4th, 2008 at 8:43 am[...] 11 Tips To Enhance Your Digg User Experience (And Hopefully Bring You Front Page Fame) [...]
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Make Them Beg To Digg You - 5 Killer Tips To Commanding Creative Diggs Says:
March 22nd, 2008 at 5:57 am[...] 11 Tips to Enhance Your Digg User Experience (and Hopefully Bring You Front Page Fame) [...]
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The Piano Inside My Brain / 11 Tips to Enhance Your Digg User Experience Says:
April 12th, 2008 at 10:07 am[...] 11 Tips to Enhance Your Digg User Experience [...]
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7 Reasons Why You’ll Click on Everything I Post « Social Media Mavens Says:
April 29th, 2008 at 11:20 am[...] in any community. Why get lost in a sea of default icons? Tamar “Schwagwhore” Weinberg wrotoe a good piece on Digg default icons making the difference in the upcoming section of [...]
Tamar Weinberg is a social media enthusiast with a passion for all things tech and productivity. She provides consulting in internet marketing and blogs for numerous online publications, most notably Lifehacker, Search Engine Roundtable, and Mashable.
August 9th, 2007 at 9:38 am
Good post Tamar! I’m still sitting about 182 on the top digger list but, I don’t digg that often anymore.
August 9th, 2007 at 4:33 pm
That is one of the best articles about digg, ever. Great advice for diggers
August 9th, 2007 at 5:26 pm
This was very helpful. I now have a much better understanding of how to be more successful with Digg. Thanks for the great insight (as always)!
Howie
August 9th, 2007 at 7:37 pm
Great post, Tamar - thanks!
August 9th, 2007 at 9:43 pm
You and MKLopez are the only two that can call me a submission subscriber. Keep up the good work!
August 10th, 2007 at 1:57 am
I finally got a story or two to the front page. Didn’t feel a bit of fame.
August 10th, 2007 at 6:24 am
Great post Tamar.
I’ve rarely used the comments for fear of nasty replies … I’ve seen some real flaming going on at times and stopped reading them entirely unless I need to look for a digg mirror URL I don’t have a thick skin
Maybe I should rethink it and start leaving comments.
August 10th, 2007 at 11:29 am
wow thats a really really long list
SIGH I fail in a large number of these points 
August 15th, 2007 at 7:52 am
Since titles are one of the most important elements of a Digg submission, it helps to create catchy and informative headlines. You can learn how to write great titles like the gurus here:
http://www.improvetheweb.com/learn-how-you-write-titles-get-traffic-links-ultimate-guide
August 15th, 2007 at 11:15 am
Great post, and judging by the info in your closing paragraph, you definitely know what you’re talking about! Would you mind if I linked to this article in my new blog?
August 15th, 2007 at 11:17 am
Go for it!
August 16th, 2007 at 11:22 am
Definitely a great post.
One thing I’ve noticed is no mention of soliciting diggs via email/twitter/other sites?
Is this an ok thing in digg culture or is it considered a no-no?
I’ve tried it maybe 5-6 times, but then again I’ve also been autobanned on digg. I’ve seen other people do it with great success.
What I’ve come up with as a happy medium is a sidebar widget that mentions if any of my posts are on digg/reddit at the moment… so users can check them out if they want.
August 16th, 2007 at 11:32 am
Engtech: I’m not saying you can’t do it. I think that it’s risky to do that since some people don’t appreciate that as I’ve seen and see it as an attempt to game Digg.
But you are right - some people have great success with it.
August 22nd, 2007 at 8:33 pm
I don’t have much of a clue when it comes to digg. Is there a rule that says after one year of moderate use one will be an educated user? I “get” flickr because that’s where I hang out. This blog post is nice because I can start learning all the “do’s and Don’ts” of the community.
I heard a few negative things about digg in the past, but joined because Brian Shaler told me it was a pretty neat site. We went to lunch once to discuss what makes digg work, but ended up talking about other things, so this post has been pretty helpful. Now I just need to re-read it (10 times)
Later,
Adam Nollmeyer
Acme Photography.net
Recent Images on Flickr
MY BLOG
August 24th, 2007 at 10:35 am
Your passion gives me hope. Bringing my story in a new way…
August 28th, 2007 at 5:58 pm
Great advice, now I just need to implement it…
September 8th, 2007 at 5:36 am
Hi,
Nice posting
Thanks
http://www.ganeshaspeaks.com
October 1st, 2007 at 3:36 pm
Thank you for a great post on Digg. It will let me start off on the right foot.
October 7th, 2007 at 10:23 pm
Wait… the word “God” didn’t catch your eye in the second photo?
October 7th, 2007 at 10:30 pm
Not so much. It’s not unheard of to see that on Digg either.
October 19th, 2007 at 3:42 am
This is great stuff, thanks Tamar!
December 28th, 2007 at 1:19 am
Nice.. I think I’ll do it..!
But.. I’ll keep my avatar,
I love my son very much, he is my inspiration.
February 16th, 2008 at 11:13 am
thanks, recently on the web, recently found diggs, enjoy it…
question, am unable to join, the box of characters never shows, audio doesn’t work. tried mailing diggs, no response, pretty much ignored…how can i join? never have had this problem with any other site, as i’ve explained to diggs. help? as it appears you may either have an answer or know someone who does, or maybe you can light a fire under their rears…
i’m assuming this is fairly private as i wouldn’t wish to be spammed.
i realize this is for comments, but gonna take the chance you read these comments and may take an interest in a digglitch, and might be in a position to help. at least to have diggs provide a method of joining. appreciate any assistance, this is frustrating, and i can’t imagine i am the only person, on the entire net, that this has happened to, surely there is a plan b?
thanks, regardless if this is resolved or not.if i receive no mail i will conclude that either you can’t help or have better things to do, no prop….
good post, by the way…
February 16th, 2008 at 6:26 pm
John, sorry I can’t help you. I stopped using Digg a few weeks ago as I blogged about here. Evidently, they don’t give a damn about users like you and me and I stopped giving them the benefit of my visits.