The World at Large is Transitioning to the New Digg?

If you are active on Digg.com you receive a steady stream of email notifications telling you that people are now following your account, because they are “interested in what you are up to on Digg!” or some such. Well as if that steady stream of “fan following” wasn’t enough… it’s apparently started coming from the NEW Digg as well.

In recent days ‘power users’ have noticed that their in-boxes are filling up with a new stream of fan notifications. It would seem that Digg, which last I heard had given out invitations to about 10,000 people to the new Digg, has significantly expanded that to include the online public at large? Heck if I know in truth. All these “new Digg fan emails” do tell me several things though.

1.) Teh NEW DIGG is COMING!

OK enough drama… but the thing IS coming. This means that we’re definitely moving deeper into a transitional phase into the functional start of the new site. Does that mean it’s coming this weekend? Probably not. But Kevin Rose has said multiple times that his team is working feverishly to get the thing out there, so get psychologically ready.

2.) Maybe it’s good for longtime users because new fans are latching on to traditional power user accounts.

Longtime power users are blessed with an already large, if old, grouping of fans, that is supposed to be beneficial when the new Digg rolls out. (Allegedly because the new Digg is followers based) One of the theories I have heard going around is that the new Digg will be kind to the old power users, at least in the beginning. After that, it’s all anyone’s guess.

3.) The demographic of the new fans adding me has been all over the map.

This means to me that anyone who has a like or love for social media is being invited at this point. I have received fan email notifications from people I have known for years but who are not big traditional participants on Digg. I have received them from people who have dugg two things. I have received them from people who I’ve never seen before but have been digging a long time. This leads to the next point.

4.) Mainstream cyberculture (not the 300-500 Digg heavier users) is switching to the new Digg.

Digg has long had 300-500 unpaid news/infotainment editors who do much of the content selection. People are now adding them on the new Digg, not the old. This says to me that people are starting to spend more of their time on the new Digg, and not hanging out on the old version. (Which power users still utilize more because they recognize that’s where the real traffic is at this point.) It must be said that the amount of referrals coming from the new DIgg is slowly creeping upwards (but is still tiny in comparison). It should be interesting to see at what pace that number keeps getting bigger and bigger.

I write this because these developments feel like an important shift to me. An interesting question I think power users should start asking about is, “At what point do you spend more of YOUR time on the new Digg than the old?” Just food for thought.