My Feelings on Digg

Usually I hate websites that involve random people posting random articles about things that really don't matter to me. However, Digg has completely changed my feelings on this topic. I started using Digg last Saturday and since then I'm hooked on it. I love the articles that people post, and I especially love the option to rename the article to what the poster feels it should be called. Digg has totally changed the way I feel about the potential of online culture. Now that I've used it I feel like there is hope yet that the internet won't be dominated by porn sites or sites about celebrity gossip…which occasionally become porn sites.

Immediately upon starting an account I began poking around and looking through all the various articles that Digg had to offer. I really liked that it had a variety of categories to narrow your search depending on the types of articles one wants to read. Personally, I like to keep the Digg page set so it shows all articles, stories, or pictures that show up. Most of the time when I'm on the internet I'm spending my time on Boston.com, ESPN.com, Facebook, or MSN, and it is on these four sites that I attain most of my news. Most of this news is either sports related or things that pertain to the Boston area, and Facebook just keeps me updated on what's happening with my friends. MSN really isn't good for anything other than e-mail. It just kinda sucks.

What's really nice about Digg is it oddly enough gives me a well-rounded sense of what the hot topics are on the Internet. I'm very programmed to just open Internet Explorer and check my e-mail, Facebook, fantasy baseball, and local news. But Digg allows me the opportunity to find out what thousands and thousands of people outside my comfort zone are talking about. I think it's cool that Digg has articles about technology and other things that I don't normally read about on a consistent basis. I've read a ton of articles about the new iPad and the Android which I really knew nothing about, and thanks to Digg I can now hold a conversation about the two items and I feel very informed.

As I mentioned earlier, one of the best things I find out about Digg is the ability to re-name the article you publish. I think this is one of the best ideas on any website that I have ever seen. I love anything comical, and it's good to see that the people who use Digg can be as cynical as I am. For example, I "dugg" and article called Big Surprise: Irish Teens Have Highest Rate of Drunkenness. I love this sort of crass comedy. It shows that these people aren't just dorks finding these pages and posting them because they have no lives. The people using these websites have personalities and do this because they enjoy it, not because it kills time.

I will definitely recommend Digg to all my friends and I've already linked it to my Facebook account. This website is a true winner.