Will You Leave Digg if They Sell?

A TechCrunch report stated that four companies are competing to bid on Digg–Microsoft, Google, and two unidentified “media companies” are reporting that that the sale of digg is looming on the horizon. It’ll be less than the $300 million that Digg was once rumored to sell for.

TechCrunch’s Michael Arrington said that Google's bid between $200 million to $225 million and that Microsoft, which also looking at Yahoo, is bidding slightly lower.


Digg’s Jay Adelson,states: “Normally our policy is to not comment about things like this...”

But, “rumors about a bidding war involving Google and Microsoft have created such a stir we feel compelled to tell you all directly that they are completely inaccurate.

“Sorry to burst any drama theories, but they aren’t true.”

I do not know why he is apologizing. I am glad that Digg is not for sale. But it is hard to ignore the media.

Even ZDnet got into the gossip reporting:

Allen Stern, CenterNetworks, predicts that if Microsoft or Google were to acquire Digg, “the mass exodus will begin swiftly.” The comments (above), if taken at face value, would seem to back this up. The point is, whoever becomes Digg’s new custodian will have to spend a lot of energy managing the transition in terms of the community’s expectations and fears or risk devaluing Digg dramatically before the ink has dried on any such deal.

Who is the Worst Deal for Digg Users?

If Google buys Digg then we can say goodbye. We all know that Google is on a 'Hun' type rampage to wipe out Social Networking and retain its monopoly of the Internet Marketing $$$. I wouldn't be surprised if Digg turned into nothing more than another AdWord website - which of course would help them ban/bench any websites that didn't play in the sandbox 'their way.'

If Time purchased Digg, then I think it would become less social and more news related. The Times owns about.com and you all saw what happened there. NO one wants to go there for 'long term.' The site talks down to the readers, the information is all 'evergreen' because they are more interested in 'degrees' and education than actual passion for the topics.

Yahoo could be interesting. Yahoo has always favored Social Networking, letting the end user control the ebb and flow of the net. I honestly think they would do the least damage. AT the most, I see them opening up the categories - at the moment you can almost create a list of Digg's main advertisers and promoters based on the categories.

Microsoft is right up there with Google. They are more interested with using sites like this to collect marketing data and promoting their product than they are seeing that the average web user can 'have their say.'

Is Digg Ready to Sell?

However, I am one to lean toward believing the Digg owners. They've only had one year to work on the site. I can't imagine that they've reached all their short term goals yet. I think their site will continue to grow as a 'user' promotion tool - not a product promotion - or web content control medium.

I really don't think they will sell. All of the gossip stems from one - very short - report. I think it was a good idea for Digg to Go with Microsoft and not Google for advertising. A lot of large websites I know are leaving Google because their sliding scale is in desperate need of oiling - if it moves at all. Forget page rank and traffic, most blog owners just want to see page counts.


The two companies signed a 3-year agreement, which puts display and contextual ads before more than 17 million visitors a month.

Last summer Digg announced that it would follow the WEB3.0 trend and become more user friendly. Does this mean a few more categories - maybe ones not related to advertising? I personally hope so. I don't actually want to see them become another blogsvine, but open it up a bit, or create a second level.

Will You Leave

A lot of people are saying they will leave. I am not sure if I will. For one, It is still a great site 'as is'. The site still indexes pages - a big bonus. And, in the end, the site does put articles before users.

I will watch for a few things. Will google limit the people who see my 'dugg' articles and turn the site into a big 'pre selling' tool? This is usually their plan of attack after buying something.

Another thing I will watch is the number of hits a month. If a search engine buys the site, and start using it to control web traffic in favor of their advertising (more than happens now) then I will not invest my time in the site.

What is your opinion?