Digg vs. Reddit – Interesting Numbers After Version 4 Goes Live
With all of the complaints about the new version of Digg, which went live on August 25th, many people have been switching from Digg to Reddit. Prior to the big change, there was a healthy competition between these two sites (as show by this infographic). Digg was the champion – the question is, how are they doing now that the new version is out?
Traffic
When the new Digg was released, there is a high spike in traffic, but shortly thereafter, Reddit receives a surge, possibly from the many Reddit stories that ended up on the Digg homepage in protest of the new version.
Pageviews
Pageviews for Digg drop significantly after the new version is released.
Bounce Rate
The only notable increase after Digg version 4 goes live is the bounce rate, meaning more people are leaving after a single pageview.
Time on Site
Even though Digg may still have more traffic, Reddit is keeping their visitors on their site longer.
Tweets from Digg vs. Reddit
Reddit has definitely been getting more tweets than Digg recently, even though the new version of Digg offers a tweet option when you submit a new story and on the main page of the story itself, while Reddit doesn’t.
Digg’s Top News in 30 Days
Out of the top 50 news stories on Digg from the last 30 days, 29 are from Reddit.
Out of the remaining 21 stories that were not from Reddit, 6 are about the community dislike of the new version, with 3 specifically about the homepage being taken over by Reddit.
The Future of Digg
So is Digg over? Doubtful. You can look back to the reactions of the Digg community when they made major changes back in 2007. Even though there were plenty of complaints, Digg continued to thrive and is still, overall, more popular than Reddit.
Your Thoughts on the Digg Revolt
Are you learning to love the changes with the new Digg, or have you moved on to a new social bookmarking and voting network? Please share your thoughts, concerns, and complaints below.
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8 comments
Digg is definitely dead. There is so much less activity on website and it is only going to lose traffic, not gain more. Top of the top stories have only 400 digg and it used to be thousands of diggs before. I quit Digg, for example, not the same website as before. I don’t know what they were thinking.
This is just evidence that sometimes management needs to get to know their user base on a more personal level. People on Digg tend not to like corporations or big business, why they would conclude that it is a good idea to allow sites to directly stream their content to Digg (and therefore to the front page based on their size) is beyond me.
I think this puts the nail in the coffin, I imagine it will be a downhill slope for Digg as this shows a huge gap in understanding between the users and ownership.
I don’t understand why? The new version of DIGG is so clear and a lot more convenient to use, unlike the highly annoying Reditt that shuts down after the third attempt to reproduce the unclear letters’ mambo jumbo, just to announce that you have submitted too many links. And this crap is superior to clear and organized Digg?
I’ve been a member of Digg and Reddit for years and used to find Digg superior in every way. I’ve spent less and less time there since they rolled out v4–if only because the site has turned into a giant news aggregator and the conversations I once enjoyed so much are no longer taking place. That said, I think the new site is speedier and better organized than the old version.
I don’t think this will spell an end for Digg, but I think they’ll have an entirely different user base in the future.
I think Reddit will smash Digg in a year.
I’ve made a beta reddit like site:
http://logreg.zxq.net/linkshare/index.php
Thanks for a great article. I am confused. Most of the RSS aggregators in the Link Builders Toolkit and the free list especially are focus on blog content.
Your really detailed analysis of these data, it is true, you must be very hard to work. Thank you for sharing.
My recent post Three Important Tips when Buying Combination Pliers
The new Digg was released, there is a high peak in traffic, but soon after, Images gets a boost, perhaps of the many stories that ended Digg Reddit site to protest the new version.