MikeFarr_3.1INF+Rough+Draft

Mike Farr's 3.1 Rought Draft Page

Michael Farr Dr. Archibald English 110.50 29 October 2008

The Art of Digg Have you ever wondered if there was a collection of articles, news stories, pictures, videos, and anything else that interests you in one place on the Internet? Many people have probably had this thought cross their mind, but never imagined that a place like this would exist. However, there is a website that contains all of this. This website is called [|www.digg.com]. This site has included some very interesting and exciting ways of presenting information and stories to its viewers and it's setup is helpful in finding the stories that interest you the most. The website also allows users to interact with one another in various ways. When you first enter in digg.com into your address bar, you will be presented with the home page. You will notice that this home page will be different almost every time that you visit the website. This is because the home consists of the most recently submitted posts. Each post will have a title, a short description, and the amount of “diggs” it has(which we will talk about later). All of these posts are submitted by users throughout the world. Anyone can submit something that they find interesting that they want others to see. This could be anything from a news article to a funny picture. From the home page you are able to navigate throughout the entire website as you please. There are multiple tabs across the top with links to various topics depending on what the user is looking for or interested in. There are also options to view only news, only videos, or only images, as well as the top posts in 24 hours, a week, and the past year. Prior to signing up, anyone can visit the website and view all of the posts and navigate through the site. However, if you are not signed up, you will not have the privilege of interacting with these posts and other users on the site. There is no cost in order to sign up for an account on digg, only a valid email address is necessary(as with registering with most websites). Upon signing up, you are immediately given various options that you did not have previously. After you sign up, you have the option to create a profile for yourself in order for other people to recognize you. You can upload an image of yourself, add a short bio and links to other sites of yours(such as blogs or other social networks). In your profile you can also your recent activity on the website. This shows what posts, comments, and other actions you have recently taken. You are also given the option to interact with other people who belong to the site. You can add friends in order to easily share information with others and view their activities as well. The settings tab is another important function in your profile. This is where you can decide what scope of people are allowed to view your information that you have stored in your profile. For those who are worried about people getting their personal information, there are options to show your name, age, gender, etc. to only your friends or even to nobody. However, the most important section in the settings tab is the customize topics link. In here, you are given the choice as to what types of posts you want to show up throughout the site. All of the categories and subcategories are shown with an option to not view one, a couple, or many of them. If celebrity entertainment is not for you, then simply check that portion off and and post made regarding that topic will no longer be shown to you. Now that the user is signed up and set up their profile and preferences its time to actually start participating. The websites main function consists of a voting system. This system is referred to as “digging” (a vote for) and “burying” (a vote against). Each post can be either dugg up or buried down depending on whether or not the user likes or is interested in it. The more diggs a post has, the more popular is becomes, and the more likely it is to be shown on the front page. So if the user decides that they like what is included in the post(whether they have similar beliefs to what is in an article, or like the picture posted, or thought the video was entertaining) they can digg it up. This basically means that the user is promoting the post for others to view themselves. It is very easy for someone to log on and see the top posts for the day or week, however if the post does not have many diggs(as in no one thought it was interesting enough to digg it up, or too many people did not like it and buried it down) then it is very hard to find that post and it will not be seen by many. This gives users some sort of power to have things that they find important or funny to be seen more by others than say something that is boring or not very comical. Now that the user is accustomed to how the voting system works and how the website is set up, there is another option to take. Say you are browsing the Internet and find an interesting article on a video game that you like and think that it's something that others should see. You could tell your friends, but that would only reach a certain amount of people. If you take that article and post it on digg, thousands if not more could see it within even just a days span. You can view the progress of your article(whether it is getting dugg or buried) and see what people have to say about it. Another feature of this website is the ability to comment on any post made. Once an article, picture, or movie is submitted, users can not only vote on it, but also post any comments that they feel necessary. These comments are displayed directly below the link to the item and the short description. Users can comment on other users comments and interact through this posting as well. The comments made can also be voted on the same way that articles can be. Comments with more approval are more likely to be read than those lesser comments, and if a comment is voted less than a negative it is automatically hidden(however is can be shown by hitting the view comment button where the post is made). This gives the users more power by being able to hide any comment that is unneccesary(such as someone posting some sort of spam or advertisement for something completely unrelated). The digg community has a huge impact on varying websites throughout the Internet. One of the most notable impacts that digg has is when a post is made from a generally low budget website that normally does not receive very much traffic. As that article rises up and becomes more popular, the server that the website is running gets slower and slower as it is not prepared for so much traffic at one time. Often times, websites crash and get shut down completely as they simply can not handle the amount of users that are going to the website. However, at the same, this could be very good news and do good things for a smaller website. Since there are an increased amount of users visiting the website, they might stray from the article or picture posted and look throughout the website(making it money through advertisements and other things). Even just a large amount of people viewing the one page that was posted could increase the profit and users for that website dramatically. This website is a place where all different kinds of people can benefit from. From learning about current events and politics, to being up to date on the latest trends and devices, this is the place to go.