The Silent Number

Posted: 2008-07-24

There are a few things that have always bothered me about Digg and i hope i'm not the only one. If there rumors are true about Google buying Digg (which i hope they are), and actually, even if they aren't true, here are some things i'd love to see.

1. A completely redesigned interface.
   
   I'd like to see Digg with a completely new interface, one that's cleaner and will work better as the number of Digg users, and subsequently, Digg submissions, increase. Also, the following ideas wouldn't work well at all with Digg's current look.
   
2. Tags, not Sections
   
   Sometimes the sections Digg offers don't fit your article perfectly, or your article fits just as well into two or more sections. Although tags might seem hard to manage, i think they would actually handle organizing submissions better than sections. Tags are more scalable. There would always be the most popular tags (which would be the main sections) and tags could be given more value depending on factors like how many people place a specific tag on a submission. This way, one submission can't spam every tag attributed to it.
   
3. Region-specific view
   
   I'd like to be able to view Digg in a region-specific mode. I can see how people are Digging differently in different countries, and how people in my country are Digging. This is pretty simple and would be really useful for Diggers around the world. Every page in Digg should be visible in region-specific view from the frontpage, to the top in [period of time],  within sections, etc, down to individual submissions.
   
4. Groups
   
   This might seem cumbersome at first, but i think if done right could be really cool. Let's say you're an involved activist. You could be in a specific group with it's own mini-digg which displays the Diggs of other group members and lets the group Digg appropriate submissions to share with each other. I'm sure if you gathered a few smart brains they could find a way to make this work really well. 
5. My Digg
   
   I'd love to be able to create my own Digg site. It would be neat to be able to customize it to how you plan to use it. Perhaps you're throwing a party and trying to see what music requests the most people agree with. I know that each of these suggestions is slightly more farfetched than the last but i still think they're worth working on.