Digg This

Digg.com is the epitome of internet democracy. Users submit news stories to the site while other users rank them by “digging” the story. Digging a story is simple; login (create an account if you don’t have one), find a story you like, and click on the “digg” button next to the story. Stories with enough “diggs” will be moved to a column on the right side of the page which features the top 10 “dugg” stories on Digg.

It’s easy to see why companies and public relations practitioners should become familiar with Digg: a story that makes the top 10 column can receive a significant increase in site visits.

While this is a huge opportunity for public relations professionals to bring attention to a client, there are some guidelines they should follow when using Digg:

1. Do not digg your own content or a client’s content: This is a cardinal sin in the world of Digg. Self promotion is frowned upon by the Digg community and will quickly ruin your reputation on Digg. If you must submit something on Digg on behalf of your client, identify yourself as a public relations practitioner who is digging on behalf of a client.
2. Make friends on Digg: Digg is a social networking site in that users can link to each other’s profiles and identify each other as friends. Friends are able to see stories that you submit, stories that you digg, and comments that you submit. Of course, you have to establish yourself as a creditable digg user before people will add you as their friend. Do this by digging stories that are interesting to you and making comments that other diggers find entertaining or useful. Digg has its own culture, so what diggers find interesting may be different than what most other social media users find interesting.
3. Get RSS feeds from popular news sites that cover your beat: If you’re involved in political public relations, you’ll want to subscribe to the Huffington Post, the New York Times, the Washington Post, and Fox News (if you research the culture of Digg you will see why Fox is included) in order to be the first to submit breaking news. For technology, subscribe to Lifehacker and Engadget, just to name a few. Subscribe to blogs or websites that talk about what you’re representing as a practitioner, then use your RSS feed to be the first to post breaking news.

There are many different tips and strategies to becoming a power user on Digg. One of my goals is to become a power user on Digg in order to make myself more marketable as a social media professional. I’ll keep this blog updated with my successes and failures in the world of Digg throughout the summer. To find out more about becoming a better digg user, check out my Del.icio.us page. I’ll keep updating it as I find new content.

Update: I forgot to post a link to my Digg profile. Add me if you’re on Digg!