I’ve written in the past that Digg is like a real-world state and that many of the real-world rules apply. The past week’s events seem to confirm that. Governments can’t change the system without some kind of public reaction. It appears Digg can’t change their algorithm without a major backlash from their users. A backlash big enough that Kevin Rose and Jay Adelson themselves turned up to “talk to the nation” in a live discussion. Here is coverage from Muhammad Saleem (himself one of the revolutionaries): from revolt to resolution in 12 hours or less

This is not the first time Digg has found itself on a collision course with its own users: back in May the removal of stories linking to cracked HD-DVD codes caused an all-out user revolt. While the long-term effects of this week’s algorithm change and user outrage remain to be seen, the dynamics of the Digg-Digger relationship make for a fascinating story. Definitely a story for the textbooks of tomorrow’s schools.

This entry was posted on Monday, January 28th, 2008 at 3:19 pm and is filed under Main. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.