Social-media pros: We're just getting started

CAMBRIDGE, Mass.--Social-media sites are visited mainly by early technology adopters and pose thorny privacy problems but are an increasingly viable channel for news distribution for overwhelmed Internet consumers, panelists at the Emerging Technology Conference said on Wednesday.

During the opening session of the conference, founders from three popular Web 2.0 social media sites--Kevin Rose of Digg, Tariq Krim of NetVibes, and Garret Camp of StumbleUpon--predicted a growing role for community-oriented sites in the media industry. The conference, now called EmTech, is put on by the Technology Review and held at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

We're the future of the media business. From left: Garret Camp of StumbleUpon, Tariq Krim of NetVibes, and Kevin Rose of Digg.com.

(Credit: Martin LaMonica/CNET Networks)

These news aggregation sites--which are expanding into images and videos--exist because Web surfers are drowning in an excess of content, panelists said. The business model to fund these sites is essentially the same as traditional publishing--advertising and subscriptions.

What's different is that users have a bigger say in what they choose to read and that they rely on their community, rather than only professional editors, to find information.

"The model is the same," said Krim, NetVibes co-founder. "It's just about the reorganization of the content distribution right now. "

Rose predicted that social media sites will become more popular as the tools to use these sites get easier.

He said that the company is working on enhancements to foster community, including a suggestion service coming out in the next few months that will let users look at the profiles of people who post items to Digg.

Digg is also looking at ways to predict which items will get to the front page on the site by tracking which submitters have a track record of spotting popular items.

The importance of community in news became starkly clear in the London terrorist bombings in 2005 and the shooting rampage at Virginia Tech earlier this year. Before professional news outlets could cover these events, people relied on information from their peers.

Even though social media sites are shaking up mainstream media, the attendees at the EmTech conference are clearly not plugged in to their friends' media preferences.

In a survey done during the panel, the majority of people here said they rely on traditional news outlets and "pre-Web 2.0" portals like Yahoo News.

Another issue not fully addressed by social-media sites is privacy, said Krim

For example, two friends could share information about an upcoming trip to London on Facebook. Advertisers could capture that information and send them special fares.

Society will need to address this practice of "monetizing our intimacy," which advertisers are eager to do, he said.

"My biggest concern is that we don't own the information and we can't get it back, and we don't know how this information is going to be used," Krim said after the panel.

Separately, Krim said that NetVibes is working with gadget producers to create a common advertising platform for gadgets.

[n3td3v]

The truth about Digg

Kevin Rose stole the concept for Digg from Google Groups.

If you goto Google Groups, you'll see the new messages in the main section and then the recently active messages on the right hand side. this is exactly the same as the digg homepage.

Kevin Rose went to my Google Group in 2004 and seen the concept of my group forwarding the latest news from full-disclosure mailing list.

Straight away Kevin Rose realised the addiction of getting breaking news from the Google Groups user interface format.

He then coded all the good things from the n3td3v mailing list and put them into Digg.

The only difference between Google Groups and Digg is the user voting system of articles.

Just to repeat, Kevin got the concept for Digg from the n3td3v mailing list and Google Groups.

The n3td3v mailing list for years was just a mirror of news post on computer security mailing lists.

With the concept of forwarding breaking news on the n3td3v mailing list, and the interactive features of the Google Groups user interface, Kevin Rose developed Digg.com.

Kevin Rose even deactivated my Digg account personally because I tried to get this secret information out to his users, and he even banned any article from Digg.com from being e-mailed to the n3td3v Google Group.

[cyberdesingnz16]

i agree with u that you will see the new messages in the main section and then active messages on the right hand side you can get more feed back from the following address.
http://www.cyberdesignz.com/

[markforstneger]

Only true to a limited extent

I think the "pros" are ignoring the fact that, like politics, all news is local. Digg isn't going to alert me to the latest scandal with the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) or the Cook County Board president's proposal to raise sales taxes two percent. Digg might alert me to the latest Linux do-hickey or Britney Spears latest flap, but when it comes to news that really impacts my everyday life, the local media sites have a tremendous built-in advantage.

[n3td3v]

Digg user base

And the Digg user base has no credibility.

Try going to Digg, all you'll see on the homepage is the latest Scandal from the whitehouse and the last thing George W Bush said wrong in a news conference.

And if you open up the comments section, you'll see a load of troll posts.

The main issue I see with the comments seen submitted by users is, the users are male, between 19 and 24 and are American.

Thats the issue, its an American website, so its not *internet*, *its American-net social news*.

Digg doesn't appeal to non-US users, and Digg won't be able to compete ont he world stage and be truely *internet*, until it sorts out the overwhelming American user base.

If a UKer tries to post a news article, it may not reach the frontpage, this isn't because the person is in the wrong, but because that article maybe less as important to US users than it is a UK user.

This is the main reason why socal news will never work, its a biased and flawed format.

Digg America will only ever suit the US government and US population propaganda war and cultural trends of the US, european and asian users and basically being shuttered out.

Until Digg can grab news per country, its a flawed service.

Even Google News has an automated news service which has multiple country selection.

Digg is still to implement world wide compatiblity on its service.

We're not all American remember, and we don't all apreciate what Americans Digg to the frontpage and we don't always agree with what you American bubble population think in your comments section under Digg articles.

[n3td3v]

Just to show you how Digg is a copy of Google Groups

Go here, you'll see the main new articles on the left, with text showing under the main headline, then you'll see the older active topics on the right.

http://groups.google.com/group/Gmail-ABCs/topics

Google Groups have had this layout in place way before Digg ever existed.

You see now what i'm taling about? Digg is just an inflated version of Google Groups.

He took the layout of Google Groups, added a "Digg* button to the left of the main headlines.

Thanks for listening, Kevin, you're a loser ;)

[n3td3v]

Kevin, the truth is out now

Even the thickest of Americans can looks at

http://groups.google.com/group/Gmail-ABCs/topics

then look at

http://digg.com

and see the exact layout similarities, but you banned me at the beginning of digg, so your users would't find out the truth.

its just as well not all your users are american, thick, eat burgers, and re-elect bush isn't it?

[n3td3v]

Digg is a Google Groups spin off!! rofl

Look at

http://groups.google.co.uk/group/Groups-Suggestions/topics

Then look at

http://digg.com

The only thing missing from the Google Groups layout is the Digg button.

Thanks for playing Kevin, you're a loser.

[n3td3v]

Digg is going to add a suggestion site, funny

Will it be exactly the same as this http://groups.google.com/group/Groups-Suggestions/topics but with a Digg button to the left of each subject header?

Just a random guess dude ;)

And don't forget the older active topics to the left, in true digg homepage style ;)

Kevin, you managed to fool half of America, but we both know the truth about Digg don't we :)

Digg = Glorified version of Google Groups!