A couple of weeks ago at a townhall event in New York, Digg announced that it was removing its "Shout" feature in favor of sharing diggs via Twitter and Facebook. Shout had become spammy and meaningless for many users, so it was a prudent move.

However, Digg also announced that it wanted to build a new communication system that didn't sustain the type of abuse shouts received during their tenure. Now, we've learned new details about Digg's potential communication tool from The LA Times. And while the new interest-based tool sounds intriguing, it has an uphill battle if it's to avoid the fate that befell shouts.

What Digg's CEO Envisions









In the LA Times piece, Digg CEO Jay Adelson provided some more detailed thoughts and background on the future of any Digg communication tool. First, the focus of any new Digg tool would be on fostering actual conversations, rather than the "Plz Digg my link tnx" spam that turned the Shout feature into junk. From the LA Times Blog:

...a tool that would focus on actual conversations, rather than the mass dumping of links that polluted shouts, he said. Adelson said Digg is considering making the tool a "one-to-one" service, implying that it could be something like a chat function. "It's not so much a sharing problem," Adelson said. "It's more of a communication problem, where I have one user who wants to talk to another user."

The one-to-one service function interests us the most. Shouts were open and broadcastable links. The new system seems to be more about individuals connecting, rather than the mass sending of links that Shout provided.

Adelson also revealed that the tool would be based on categories. So, if you're a huge sports fan, you'd hang out with the other sports diggers. It would also recognize where your strengths are - i.e. if you're great at finding Tech news, you'll see your influence in this new system increase there, but perhaps not in environmental news. According to Adelson, "this new tool would create 'tastemakers' in various categories."

So, to summarize: Digg wants to build a new one-on-one communication tool based on categories that would foster communities based on interest. At least, that's the gist of it.

Digg's Monster of a Digg Spam Problem

Facebook is successful tool for discussion because communication is within your social graph - your friends. You talk about your day, the pictures you took, your most recent vacation, stuff that we are always interested in. Twitter, which includes your friends, influences, and people of interest, has the same type of vibe, but adds in conversations around useful links and major events in realtime.

Digg, however, is not really based on your friends or your social graph. It's based on your interests and getting diggs. Almost anyone who submits a link to Digg will ask his or her friends for a Digg. These annoying and usually useless messages are what killed Shouts. Digg clearly sees this and wants to build a tool that compensates for this. That's why the new tool would focus on interest-based discussion.

Here's the problem: it's not just a technology problem, it's also a culture problem. Its communication tool will almost certainly be filled with the "please digg my link!" chaos of old, unless Digg can find a way to reshape its community or simply outright bans asking for Diggs. The new tool must balance all of these factors or suffer implosion.

This much is clear: Digg has an incredibly tough task ahead in its future.