Digging Up the Internet

Digg.com is a place where people can discover, share, and discuss media they find on the web. Once someone submits an article, it is voted on by Digg users, or “diggers”. This way, the best articles are “dugg” up, and poor articles are “buried,” leaving only the best user submitted content for viewing. Along with each article is a comment thread, where diggers can discuss and add on to what others have submitted. Because the user base of Digg is so large, articles from all fields and topics are dugg up from the internet, so everyone can find something they are passionate about. Even though it has its problems, Digg.com is a prominent media source that provides relevant news, entertainment, and a portal to other resources on the internet.

Digg.com is a great place to keep up with current events and discuss topics brought up on the site. Because Digg links to other sites, like blogs, it is usually one of the first sites to release news. When Governor Palin was selected to be Senator McCain’s vice president, I first heard about it through Digg. In the discussion thread for the article, the pros and cons were discussed about the choice of the Alaskan Governor. Some diggers linked to other, more credible news sites which gave a more in depth debate on the topic. Digg also kept up with the Democratic and Republican National Conventions, and the United States’ efforts to help people in the path of hurricane Gustav.

Digg.com is also a great portal to find other things on the net. Not all of the articles are serious debates about politics. Many of the submissions are comical, making Digg a great website for entertainment as well as news. Particularly funny web comics and internet memes, such as lolcatz, have become popular with the help of Digg. It is also a great place to hear about new technologies or discoveries. Diggers keep close track of all new Apple technology, and the Large Hadron Collider has often been a front page topic.

However, Digg has some detractors to its reliability and quality. Many of the users are politically biased toward liberal views, which is obvious in the dugg political articles. While the Republican National Convention was going on, almost all of the political articles were bashing or trying to discredit Governor Palin. Another problem with Digg is the comments users post. For every insightful, well spoken comment, there are fifty incompetent ones. However the comments can be dugg or buried, allowing the poor ones to be hidden and the good ones to be read.

Digg is a great way to stay in touch with current events and internet culture. It is a great place to find funny or interesting entertainment. However, it is very biased and does not always have interesting things dugg or commented. Overall, Digg.com is a great media source for up to date news, entertainment, and links to other interesting sites.