Propeller, AOL's Digg clone, has been revamped in a major way as of Tuesday. The revamp had already been announced, but the magnitude of it surprised me. Not only have they dropped voting for an obscure "prop" functionality (prop a story up, get it?), where a story is ranked 1-10 based on a number of factors.
When looking at the last 500 front page stories on Digg, the top 10 submitters controlled a mind-boggling 31.4% (157 out of 500). Some of the names on the list are regulars on the front page. A few have found new success using the new Digg Recommendation Engine.
Yahoo! launched its Buzz Social News site in beta form in February. Unlike most Social News sites, only pre-approved publishers are allowed. And, while it was unclear just how well it would do, it seems that Buzz has really taken off.
As much as I have enjoyed Digg over the years, it is officially no longer relevant as a social news site. The concept that social “media” can be pictures, videos, podcasts, or articles is great, but what I witnessed tonight was both enjoyable and sad.
Over the last year, Digg has focused on several issues. While all of these have importance, Digg has paid these issues more than enough attention. In most cases, they've paid too much attention them.
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