Users Paying For Popularity
Jacqueline Biggs — March 3, 2007 — Tech
Digg-ers dig popular stories and anticipate the cool news...don't they? Many people believe that only the genuinely popular stuff gets promoted....but is that really true? Seems not. "Wired" decided to put the site to the test and conducted a controlled experiment. They developed a very basic blog with content around pictures of crowds , opened a Digg account and set up a link to the story. Unsurprisingly it attracted limited interest. Then, Wired turned to "User/Submitter" - A paid for service exists to help you get your story promoted:
"Where Digg Submitters Pay for Digg Users to Promote their Stories. And, Where Digg Users Make Easy Money"
Naturally the next day, the story was awarded a "become popular" tag and site traffic took off. Interestingly, if you want to clamber up the ranks at Digg, you need to be seen to vote on the most popular stories......so with the help of a paid for site, it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy - you cand and will rise to top story. Whilst this was a triumph for the experimenter - Digg and Digg-ers did start to question the authenticity and soon buried the story. But not before it gained significant popularity,
"Where Digg Submitters Pay for Digg Users to Promote their Stories. And, Where Digg Users Make Easy Money"
Naturally the next day, the story was awarded a "become popular" tag and site traffic took off. Interestingly, if you want to clamber up the ranks at Digg, you need to be seen to vote on the most popular stories......so with the help of a paid for site, it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy - you cand and will rise to top story. Whilst this was a triumph for the experimenter - Digg and Digg-ers did start to question the authenticity and soon buried the story. But not before it gained significant popularity,
Trend Themes
1. Paid Promotion - The rise of paid promotion services on platforms like Digg presents opportunities for businesses to strategically boost the popularity of their stories and gain exposure.
2. Authenticity Verification - As the authenticity of viral stories on platforms like Digg comes into question, there is a growing need for tools and services that can verify the genuineness of content, creating opportunities for innovative solutions.
3. Self-fulfilling Prophecy - The concept of a self-fulfilling prophecy on platforms like Digg highlights the potential for disruptive innovations that can leverage existing trends to generate desired outcomes, whether ethically or unethically.
Industry Implications
1. Digital Marketing - The emergence of paid promotion services on platforms like Digg provides a new avenue for digital marketing professionals to increase brand exposure and reach a wider audience.
2. Content Verification - With the authenticity of viral stories being called into question, industries focused on content verification and fact-checking can play a crucial role in ensuring the credibility of online information.
3. Social Media Platforms - The self-fulfilling prophecy phenomenon observed on Digg opens up opportunities for social media platforms to address issues of authenticity and implement measures to prevent manipulation of rankings and popularity.
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