Guide Note

Social news websites allow users to post links to news stories and other media such as photographs and videos on the site. Users have the option of commenting on or voting for the submitted stories. The submissions that get the most votes, views and/or comments are featured at top of the site or page, while those that receive less votes or mostly negative votes are filtered out.

Fast Facts

1. On most social news websites, users may submit positive or negative votes
2. Members help to police the communities by flagging submissions that contain spam or inappropriate content
3. Companies such as Subvert and Profit pay people to vote for social news stories¹
4. In 2008, 4.5 million unique visitors came to Reddit each month²
5. Users may receive points for consistently submitting top stories

1. Digg
2. Reddit
3. Propeller
4. Mixx
5. Newsvine