How to Use Digg Like a Pro

How to Use Digg Like a Pro contains step-by-step instructions on getting the most out of Digg.

How to Use Digg Like a Pro contains step-by-step instructions on getting the most out of Digg.

• Digg is a social news website. All editorial control belongs to the Digg community members. This concept runs counter to traditional media outlets where stories are chosen by a small handful of editors. With Digg, all stories are submitted and voted on by the community members. If a story becomes popular enough, it gets promoted to the front page.

• In order to get the most out of Digg, you will want to join the community by creating a user account. Digg's strength comes from its 1 million plus members. Non-members can only read articles. For everything else, you need to join the community. To create your account:

1. Go to: http://www.digg.com
2. Click on "Join Digg":

   • Digg's Home Page

3. Fill out the membership form and click "Continue."
4. Go to your e-mail account. Digg will send you a link that you must click on to verify your identity. This is an important step! Your Digg account will expire after 3 days if you fail to validate your e-mail account.

• Success! You are now a member of one of the largest communities on the Internet!

• Every Digg member has a personal profile page. Here you can display information about yourself that you don't mind sharing with others. To setup your profile:

1. Go to the top of any Digg page, click on "My Profile."

   • Digg's Home Page

2. Click on "Change Icon":
   • 

     Change Icon
   • You can upload up to 25 images. Of these images, you may choose one to be your Digg icon. The rest will be visible to other Digg members on your profile page under "Photos."
3. Click on "Add a Bio & Links." Here you can add a few sentences about yourself, as well as links to other web services that you are a member of:
   • 

     Add a Bio & Links
4. View your Digg "Stats." These are statistics on all your Digg activities:
   • 

     Your Digg Stats

• Other Digg members can be added as your friends. Once they become friends, you can keep track of the stories they are digging, as well as send them messages called "shouts." To add friends:

1. Go to the top of any Digg Page and click on "My Profile."
2. Click on "Add Friends."
   • 

     Friends Tab
   • You then have several options:
     • -Find Address Book Contacts - Digg will search through your Gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail, AOL, or Outlook contacts to see if any of your friends are on Digg.
     • -Search for Friends - Search for contacts by typing an e-mail, name, or location.
     • -Invite People - Send an invitation e-mail to non-Digg members.
3. You can also add friends by clicking on the small avatars located thoughout Digg:

   • Example Article

4. Clicking on the avatar takes you to that person's profile page. Once there, click on "Add Friend."
   • 

     Add Friend Button

• "Shouts" are messages that you can send to other Digg members. These messages appear on their profile page. If you'd like to check the "shouts" that have been sent to you:

1. Go to the top of any Digg page and click "My Profile."
2. Look under "Your Incoming Shouts" at the bottom of the page.

• After adding someone as a friend, you can keep track of that person's activities on Digg. However, they will only see your activities if they choose to become a "mutual friend." They do so by accepting the friend request that is sent to them. To view the activities of all your friends:

1. Go to the top of any Digg page and click "Friends' Activity."

   • Digg's Home Page

2. All of your friends' activities will be listed in chronological order. You can then narrow down the activities by using the Filter on the right-hand side of the page:
   • 

     Friends' Activity Filter

• When you "digg" a story, you are essentially casting a vote. For example, let's look at an actual Digg article:

• Example Article

• Notice the button to the left of the article. It shows how many "diggs" this story has recieved. In this example, 21 people have cast their votes.

• Let's say that after reading the article, you like it enough to cast your vote. To do so, just click on the "digg it" button. You'll notice that the story has now increased from 21 to 22 diggs. In addition, the "dugg!" button confirms that your vote has been received:

• Example Article

• Let's say you change your mind on a story that you've previously dugg. Well, you can "undigg" that story:

1. At the top of any Digg page, click on "My Profile."
2. Go to the "Recent Activity" tab.
3. Find the story that you'd like to "undigg."
4. Click the "undigg" button located to the right of the story:
   • 

     Recent Activity Tab

• As a member of Digg, you can also submit stories to be voted on by the rest of the community. Whenever you come across an article that you'd like to submit:

1. Go to the top of any Digg page and click on "Submit New."

   • Digg's Home Page

2. Enter the URL of the article.
3. Enter a title and description of the article.

• If the story has already been submitted by another Digg member, you'll receive the following message:

• 

  Duplicate Story Message

• Now that you know how to submit a story to Digg, what types of stories should you be looking for?

• Here are the various Digg categories:
  • News > Technology > Apple, Design, Gadgets, Hardware, Industry News, Linux/Unix, Microsoft, Mods, Programming, Security, Software, Tech Deals
  • News > Science > Space, Environment, Health, General Sciences
  • News > World & Business > Business & Finance, Political News, 2008 U.S. Elections, Political Opinion, World News, Offbeat News
  • News > Sports > Baseball, Basketball, Extreme, Football (US/Canada), Golf, Hockey, Motorsport, Soccer, Tennis, Other Sports
  • News > Entertainment > Celebrity, Movies, Music, Television
  • News > Gaming > Industry News, Playable Web Games, PC Games, Nintendo Wii, Playstation 3, XBox 360
  • Videos > Animation, Comedy, Educational, Gaming, Music, People, Sports
  • Podcasts > Arts/Culture, Business, Comedy, Education, Games & Hobbies, Gov/Org, Kids, Health, Music, News, Religion, Science, Sport, Tech, TV/Film

• Each Digg category has its own Popular & Upcoming sections. Just look for the following buttons:

• 

  Popular/Upcoming Buttons

• All article submissions start out in the "Upcoming" section. Prior to getting promoted to the Popular page, each article must first be voted on in this 'proving ground'.

• If a submission doesn't receive enough votes within a certain period of time, it will be removed from the Upcoming section and will only be accessible via the search box at the top of any Digg page. In other words, if a submission is removed from the Upcoming section, its chances of making the Popular page are reduced drastically.

• The Popular page is coveted real estate. Since Digg has over 1 million users (in addition to all of the non-members), it's quite an event to make the Popular page.

• Because most people are only interested in the popular stories, many article writers dream of making the Popular page of Digg. Just to give you an example, as of this writing, the Number 1 story over the previous year received over 43,000 Diggs!

• Popular articles can be grouped by time frame. Just click on the following buttons in any Popular section:

• 

  Popular Section Time Frames

• Since Digg has such a large community, and is so well known on Internet, it can serve as a great resource for finding information. Digg keeps archives of everything; you can even see how a news item from a couple of years ago was received by the Digg community. Did it make the front page? Or, did it disappear into obscurity?

• While Digg is primarily known for its technology news, you can also find videos, podcasts, pictures and even offbeat news. There are several ways to find stories on Digg:

1. General Categories: At the top left corner of any Digg page, you can search for information using the category drop-down menus.

   • Digg's Home Page

2. Specific Terms: At the top right corner of any Digg page, you can type in a specific search term; just as you would in any search engine.

   • Digg's Home Page

• Comments are a very important aspect of Digg and all members can participate. Comments turn the articles into an actual conversation. Oftentimes, the conversations become quite spirited.

1. To view the comments of an article, just click on the "comments" button:

   • Example Article

2. To add your comment, scroll down to the bottom of the comments page. Enter your comment in the "Add Your Comment" form:
   • 

     Comment Form
3. When reading through comments, you can give a "thumbs up" to the ones that you like, as well as a "thumbs down" to those you don't like. The comments with the most 'diggs,' or thumbs up, rise to the top of the comments list. For example, let's say you like a comment and would like to 'digg it up.' Just click on the thumbs up button in the top right corner:
   • 

     Voting on Comments

• All Digg articles can be shared in various different ways.

1. Click on the "Share" button:

   • Example Article

2. You can then send this article as:
   • • - A Shout to your Digg friends
     • - An Email to anyone
     • - A Blog post
   • 

     Sharing Articles

• Digg has official tools you can incorporate into your blog or website. For example:

1. You can add Digg buttons and badges to your website. These let visitors digg your posts (if they like them).
2. You can also add a widget that lets you broadcast recent Digg stories on your site.
3. Adding the Google IG Module lets you view recent Digg stories on your Google homepage.
4. Enable video thumbnails with this tool. This way video submissions from your site will show up with thumbnails on Digg.

• You don't need to restrict yourself to official tools. Mashable has a list of Digg tools and resources, with Firefox add-ons and more. Read through the choices; you're sure to find a tool that's useful, fun, or both.

• Official Digg Tools

• The Digg Blog

• Diggnation Podcast

• Digg FAQ

• Mashable: 50+ Digg Tools & Resources (August 16, 2007)

• Quick Online Tips: Amazing Digg Tools Collection (September 2005)

• Harry Maugans: Most Powerful Sites on Digg (April 14, 2007)

• ViperChill: Analysis: Top 100 Digg Users (September 10, 2007)

• Mozilla: Smart Digg Button - Firefox Extension

• Dugg - A Digg Widget for Mac Dashboards

• Aviran's Place: Digg This - Wordpress Plugin

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