Given the events of the last 12 hours or so and the HUGE influx of Digg revolt, cap/recapp, Digg “should do” submissions, I have now christened January 24 as Social Media Digg Day.

Relax though. No one gets the day off and as far as I can tell there aren’t going to be any celebrations, except from Jay Adelson and Kevin Rose (they dodged a bullet or 80).

The town folk have put down their pitchforks and torches. In the same likeness as those who made an outcry over Iraq, Katrina,the Scooter Libby trial, and Attorney firings everything has been fixed with a “Trust Us”. Awesome, everything is better because those who caused the problem and ignored the flames are the same ones we’re trusting to fix it and call the fire brigade.

Digg is an awesome site, and once had a phenomenal community, but now I feel that that community has Battered Social Media User Syndrome (BSMUS). You keep getting smacked by your community, but you still defend it by staying on and when a revolt is in its super-critical phase, the owners show up and it fizzles.

A moment that would have defined not only Digg from this point on, but the social media world as a whole. A moment that shows all the social sites, WE (the users) are the only reason you exist. Don’t forget that. But alas, it didn’t happen and we’ll never know what the impact would have been and that’s ok, new features always fix the problem.

I’m not trying to say the Kevin and Jay won’t make a real attempt at reaching out to the users, but the past events do not work in their favor. For months people have made an big stink over the Auto-Bury, Auto-Ban, and Diggs heavy hand, but somehow Jay and Kevin, as one blogger put it, ” had no idea that their users were feeling both betrayed and hurt by the recent happenings”. Now that’s what I called being in touch with your users, especially when you claim “..we read your comments..”.

Now I’m not genius, but I’ve worked for government for a while, I’ve dealt with local politicians, and this wreaks of the stench of “damage control”. It doesn’t take a “Rocket Surgeon” to figure that out. Release a little pressure from the moment, and you can control that moment. Jay and Kevin did just that.

Now this isn’t a rush to judgment for the future, Digg may change its ways, but don’t act surprised if they don’t.

“Those who ignore the past, are doomed to repeat it”.

With that said, Happy “Digg Day” social media world join me in celebrating the revolution that never happened.

Note: Since the Revolution didn’t follow through, there’s really no reason to talk about it anymore, so lets get back to business of Mixxing real news.

Categories: Articles
Tags: digg, fizzle, Mixx, revolution