[Guest post by David Perel – Co-Founder of Obox Themes.]
I have recently had access to the Digg website and based on my initial impressions it is quite impressive.
The design has been done very well and has a level of quality that is sometimes missing in larger sites. Facebook lost their way a bit in this area, their design landed up quite messy but they impressively managed to pull it back.
It feels as though every part of the new design has gone through a lot of analysis and revision. I am super impressed by it. The usability and navigation is hugely improved and in general the whole experience flows.
In terms of functionality and the way it works, Digg seems to have taken a few tips out of the Twitter and Facebook juggernauts. In particular the way that stories are now “˜Dugg‘ has changed.
They say the priority has moved away from power diggers (those who hold all the power on the current Digg site) and more toward the user. When you login into the new site you are given a User Suggestion List. From there you are offered to find friends to follow from your Facebook, Twitter and Google friends lists.
In the past when you landed on Digg you were presented with the latest stories which have been Dugg. Now your profile has become the landing page and on it are stories from the people you follow. So the more people you follow the more stories you will see.
The more friends you have in the new Digg the more chance you have of your story hitting the front page. So it is now up to you to gather as many followers as possible so that they can Digg your story.
They say on Twitter that your follower count does not matter. Well on Digg it does, in a BIG way. It literally feels like a Twitter link farm and instead of a tweet stream you now have a Digg stream.
Highlights of the new site are the new way you post links. In the past it was a painful process which involved a 4 step process but now you simply enter your URL into a link box which is similar to the status box you have on Facebook.
Once you have entered your link it will gather all the relevant info for you. It‘s a pleasure to use and quite user friendly. Full marks for that new feature, I know that I will be using the site a lot more because of it.
Overall I see the new Digg generating more traffic than before and pleasing new and existing users. You can still access the old style method but now with the emphasis more on the masses than the power diggers they will see a pretty big increase in new signups as people beg their mates to join.
