Yahoo Suggestions: Not a Digg clone

Yahoo just announced Suggestions.yahoo.com, which in some ways looks similar to another social bookmarking and voting site, Digg.

The similarity to Digg was driving the Digg crowd nuts this morning. The Yahoo Suggestions boards were bombed by Digg users with mean or irrelevant posts. A lot of people were complaining about Yahoo stealing the Digg concept.

But Digg and Yahoo Suggestions are quite different. Digg is clearly a destination if you're looking for cool Web sites, videos, and stories online. Yahoo Suggestions, on the other hand, appears to be a feedback mechanism that's getting rolled out on some of Yahoo's sub-categories: autos, local, food, gallery, and so on. It's not a Digg competitor.

Moreover, it's not like this is the only other site out there that supports user voting and comments. Check out Reddit. Or Shoutwire. Or any of these dozens of other sites. Microsoft, by the way, is experimenting with a Digg-like concept, called MSN Reporter, in Norway and Belgium.

One could argue that Del.icio.us, which Yahoo acquired, is in the same space as Digg, even though it doesn't have voting buttons. But Yahoo Suggestions is really a fancy feedback forum. It's a transparent system that lets users vote on suggestions that site publishers can use to improve their sites. It looks a little like Digg, but big deal. I'd like to see more sites adopt Digg-like feedback. I think it's a great idea.