People who will scan this story will know what Digg.com is, so I'm not going to explain. Digg already has the traffic and ad structure in place for it to become a major player in content. It can even use its own content and promote it just like any other website does when you use Digg.com. The functionality of Digg as it currently is can still be a major part of it. The Digg Dialogs are a great showing of how their content system is already beginning.
With the folly that was their 4.0 launch, this would be a great way for Digg to use their influence in the community of the internet and have "lunch with journalism with a side of it's a trap and a pedobear for dessert". Back to why I'm referring to it as a folly. It didn't generate any new traffic they are flat in growth from this same time last year pre-launch. ( http://www.alexa.com/siteinfo/digg.com#rank {change the timeframe under the line graph to max to see information I'm referring to} )
According to Alexa.com traffic information in the US, Digg.com (ranked 78) with its very minimal self provided content is more viewed (higher ranked) than all of these content companies:
80. BBC.co.uk
81. WashingtonPost.com
84. DrudgeReport.com
96. Mashable.com
278. NPR.org
310. CBS.com
81. WashingtonPost.com
84. DrudgeReport.com
96. Mashable.com
278. NPR.org
310. CBS.com
The Digg Button and the impact original content would have on their "community" would be small but it would be a way to keep more traffic coming to them for their unique views and input to the ever-changing world (meaning this will not cause near the backlash that UI/UX changes cause). I don't want to see Digg suffer as it has been a great means to discovery of information that I would have completely misses otherwise.
Concluding Thought - "Instead of just paying engineers who might or might not get something right with hits, get a writer that you know, based on how everything in your system works, will generate more hits and clicks within your site which is ultimately what Digg needs. If content is king, traffic is the crown. Without a crown there is job for a king."
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