Digg's "Rethought' redesign after its acquisition by Betaworks has just gone live, just one day after the company showed off its v1 preview that was the result of a very rapid 6-week redesign process. It's technically a day earlier than its original goal of August 1st, which could be a sign that the site intends to be just as "fast and thin" as the new look itself. Old features like the Newsbar and Newsrooms have been scuttled in favor of a simpler site that emphasizes top stories, popular stories, and "upcoming" stories. Betaworks also says that it's changed the Digg score to take social sharing from Facebook and Twitter into account when ranking stories. The front page of Digg will also be editorially driven instead of entirely based on a Digg score algorithm.

Such rapid development has meant that some features had to be left by the wayside. Specifically, commenting isn't here at all — a concession that means this is more news portal than user community at the moment. Whether and how a commenting system would look on the redesigned Digg remains to be seen, but Betaworks says that it plans on conducting "a few experiments in commenting that will inform more permanent features." Notably, you have to log in with Facebook in order to Digg stories, a feature Betaworks says is a defense against spam, but not necessarily a permanent feature of the site.

In the blog post officially announcing Digg v1, Betaworks says that it intends to continue to add new features, including the aforementioned commenting experiments, "network-based personalization," mobile versions, and even an API for developers to build on top of the platform. In the FAQ for the new site, Betaworks says it's "serious" about not putting ads on the site, but how exactly the company intends to actually monetize Digg is unknown. As for all the old user data, Betaworks still has it and will release an "archive website" next month so users can browse what used to be there — though it may not try to integrate any of that data into the new Digg.

Digg also has launched a new iOS app, which offers a similar news reading and new sharing experience — including Digging stories, naturally. It also supports offline reading and a geofencing feature called "Paperboy" which automatically updates the app whenever you leave or arrive from your home.

Grid View











