Get ready for season poor of the restless. Once an original podcast presented by t mobile for business- and I heard radio- join me as I sit down for in depth. Discussions with the people at the intersection of technology and business. You'll, learn how Each of these leaders is building a bridge to what's next and leveraging transformative technologies like five g to create a more connected and meaningful future. Today, listen to the restless available and I are radio apple pie guests. Where were you listened? The pod guests ac? tells by Mary. It is a european inspired hotel brand, where every detail has been refined, crafted and considered to ensure a seamless day a simple yet elevated, design treats and uncomplicated experience, providing, everything you need and nothing you don't wake up each morning to their european inspired breakfast with hand, shaper prosciutto freshly beg croissants and made to order hot.

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Else and the more you ve been looking for check out. Nissan's, exciting line up, learn more at me: son, usa, dot com. This is jason alexander for visible wireless. Some wireless companies say they have no yadda yadda, but details man. You should know what you signing up for so yeah deanna. I'm reading this add four visible on the visible planning at one line of wireless on verizon's five g network for twenty five dollars a month every month, that's unlimited data text talk and hot spot for twenty five dollars a month. All taxes and fees included no surprises, like another guys, learn more about visible wireless, invisible data management practices at visible that come additional term supply.

the welcome to tech stuff, a production from iheartradio. The hey there and welcome to tech stuff, I'm your host Jonathan Strickland, I'm an executive producer with iheart podcasts and how the tech aria. So, just last friday we published a tech stuff, classic episode called the digs and I was thinking- I should probably do a very quick update on it's been going on with dig since two thousand seventeen, except you know me. I don't do quick updates, because I'm at a chatty, cathy so we're gonna. Do that we're gonna? Do an update on what's been happening with dixons twenty seventeen, but first I want to go back and talk over kind of what happened with dig in the first place, just a guy. You didn't listen to the original episode or the classic published on friday, so that you're not totally in the dark. So,

dig originally launched in late two thousand and four, and it was Essentially, a news aggregator site digs off as a site where users, the visitors, the members of dig, be able to share links to stuff that they thought was useful or cool or entertaining or in a whatever. It was a site that was all about discovery and sharing discovery. Though search engines are great right like if you are looking for something specific, then you go to a search engine and you can find a link to something that answers your specific question. That's fantastic, but what, if you're, just in the mood to you, know browse internet, What's going on a specifically like? What's what's more important right now today, what has happened

why do you didn't really know what you wanted to see or reed? You just do that. You wanted something, then a site like dig or read it, which launched not long after dig dead and was digs big competitor, as I like that The huge help so dig really focused on the recent and the timely. They really were hyper focused on things like tech and gaming and sports and news that stuff like that was really where they were. Focusing sharing a link on digg

gave the entire community the opportunity to weigh in on whether they thought that particular story was important or not. So if folks thought it was interesting or important and they had a dig account, they could boost the story up the page ranking this was called digging and article, and if an article received enough diggs, it would get promoted to the front page of dick which in turn, was being called the front page of the internet. If the community thought the story was lay more that the all, maybe was already represented within days, whatever that my be you could voted down. This was called burying an article, the flaw to be behind dig was that the community determined what stuff on the internet was actually worth looking at, it was giving power the people, none of that would matter unless people actually used dig if it had never it

acted users, then it just would have been a curiosity and nothing more, but it actually did attract quite a few users. People began to flock to the site and use it a lot, so their participation would ultimately end up having a larger impact web in general, because if you had a peace that showed up on digs front page, that could mean a significant boost traffic. As people checked out, the other Click on article go your site so did could end up being really influential. There was this thing called be dig a fact that was a big deal when dig was zero in its heyday just a couple of years. After launching the site, one of the co founders Kevin rose, who was of a personality really at that time he was on tat tv and had a show. A pod ghastly launch called dig nation, the pretty famous dude,

He started to encounter a frustrating experience, because there were some companies that were interested in purchasing, dig and roses, like yeah. I don't mind the idea of selling it, because he really liked creating stuff and getting a guy but he was less interested, adjust sticking around forever right. He he'd, like the creative process. but he couldn't just sell dig VON something else because dig had a board of directors who ultimately had the authority of that decision about whether or not to sell a company and the board was convinced. At the incoming offers, such as one from news core news core which had famously purchased myspace, just undervalued the companies or newscorp off

was said to be somewhere around sixty million dollars. But the boar director said no that's way too low. We need to have a much higher offer before we will consider selling so rose. Couldn't cell to Newscorp he just had to sort of sit back and continue working on the site have. Reportedly, he became less interested in doing that over his time at dig so he thought it would have been better to cash out and created a new project, but he was beholden to the board by two thousand eight there is a much larger deal that was in the works between dig and Google. Now the rumour was that Google offered to acquire dig for the princely sum of two hundred million dollars, so it it looks like maybe the board of directors had been right right, like they had said, sixty millions too low and then a couple of years later, the offers two hundred million. However,

or that deal never actually happened. Negotiations fell apart for one reason or another or perhaps a whole bunch of different reasons, and google did not go through with the deal in twenty. Ten dig tackled an ambitious and drastic redesign known as dig version for reportedly Kevin rose made a huge number of changes as part of a a venture capital funding round and palm launch. This roll out was a disaster the design went from the view. The foundation of how dig worked like even the actual technique. Gee that powered everything was changed and the changes all the way through to user interface and experience and It turned out that not only did it get rid of a lot of stuff that dig users valued it. Why? not ready for the boy met when it went live because people started to encounter frustrating glitches while interact

with the new design. The whole website would crash repeatedly throughout the day when the site was working, which was never a guarantee users were very upset. The sea historic features just missing from the the experience. So, for example, the option to bury a post was gone. Perhaps more upsetting was the fact that this new version of dig would allow new sites to automatically submit articles to dig so in that of everything being user generated and user submitted, now? The news agencies could actually submit stuff themselves directly to dig it no longer was in the community's hands. There was also a lot. Complaints, although I never found like any real strong corroborating evidence, but there are a lot of complaints that some power users at dig had a desperate an amount of control of what could be seen and what would not make it to the front page

and that meant the community as a whole found himself unable to really get stuff. Seen on the main page, that was very It's heartening alexis Ohanian, one of the co founders of reddit. You know the big competitor to dig actually published an open letter to Kevin rose, saying that the new features inversion forest suggested that the team had allowed investors to really way in on what should and should not be part of the platform. Rather than listening to the community and responding to what the community wanted. The site was listening to the money, and that that in turn was alienating digs users and it turns out Oh, I love. What he was saying was right, because a ton of dig users abandoned dig many of them actually migrated on over to read it, but that's another site. Ray because red itself has had its own ups and downs, including a very tumultuous. Twenty twenty three

anyway, the various co founders of dig started to leave the company over time by two thousand eleven Kevin Kevin rose, was bouncing from the company as well lots of users had traffic was dropping precipitously. It was bad Meanwhile, social platforms like facebook and twitter were also growing rapidly and taking over some of the functions that dig had performed because now folks could create a profile on a system that prioritized communities and networks, at least that's what they claim to do. Then they could share stuff with their friends on these platforms, so it was social first and then contents.

Good kind of approach- you could argue dig was, maybe you know, content and social together or maybe even content first, social second, but the point is dig- was seeing other sites drink. It's milkshake. On top of all that other companies were poaching talent from dig the washington post company hired more than a dozen of digs site engineers, for example. So it was pretty clear. Dig was on borrowed time in two thousand and twelve dig would kind of get sold for parts. Different parts of dig was were sold off to other companies, but the site itself and the underlying tech and the ip of What made dig dig it up going to a company called beta works and the the price tag had dropped from that theoretical high of two hundred million dollars with google to a much less grandiose, half million

don't get me wrong. Half a million dollars is a lot of money. It just doesn't measure up to some of the earlier on first dig had turned away in its history I should also add there some dispute about that. Five hundred thousand dollar sales price. That's what everyone here ordered just about everyone anyway, but tat crunches. Frederic Larsan, who reported that The actual deal was considerably larger and included not just cash but also equity in the company, and so the value was much higher than what reports had suggested. In that say, article. He pointed out that digs annual add revenue was likely more than half million dollars a year, so it wouldn't really make sense to sell the company for half a million dollars, but then again vocs dot com reported that dig brand, its entire service of observers that were on premises was macleod based company at that

point so is really before a cloud computing had made it less expensive to run huge websites like it. If you're webs it had a fairly modest user base than new private, wouldn't enormous bills per month. Buffer dig because of how popular it was VOX estimated, that it would cost a quarter million dollars a month just to keep the site running. So then, you like well, even if you're here revenue is more than half a million dollars if your monthly cost are two hundred fifty thousand dollars you're in trouble, unless your significantly more than half a million dollars a year, but whatever the scope of the deal, however much it ended up being under beta works, dig, would re launch in the summer of two thousand twelve with an entirely

different approach to content so instead of having users determine what material would make up the front page, dig featured and editorially curated front page, so, in other words, dig determined what went on digg not users that are still like scoring systems in place in that kind of stuff. But the fundamental operation of dig had totally transformed. That's pretty much where I left off in that two thousand. Seventeen episode at that time dig was still under the ownership of beta works, the guy They beta works typically focuses on start ups that are at the Earliest stages of development, so beta works, looks out for interesting projects and then provides once called seed stay. funding, which is the initial money that a startup needs in order to conduct

or less from an idea into something real seed, money help start ups. Do things like attract the right talent and put together the earliest plans for how the company will actually operate? Take over dig was a little bit outside the wheel house for that can accompany, though, as I understand it, beta works, Mary dig, a socially driven news web app. It had a development called news. Dot me one thing: beta works did have an Its belt was the service bit dot l. Why do you EL shortness, of that is episode. It also help develop tweet deck which twitter would ultimately purchase. But again, that's a matter for another episode. Haiti of dig was over at this point and finding new art. some stuff from the beta works era of dig. Isn't that easy? People had moved on red, it absorbed a ton of digs community

the new dig was largely viewed as just another web based news site. So really, in that stretch between two thousand and twelve and two thou eighteen. There aren't that many news items about dick, but then things will change I'll, explain more after we take this quick break hey podcast listeners returning for season for is the restless ones and original podcast presented by t mobile for business, and I heart radio join me as I sit down for in depth discussions with the people at the intersection of technology and business, learn of their unique missions and challenges to enhance, optimization and drive their organizations forward. We reveal how Today's forward thinking leaders continue to thrive and a world of ever changing technology.

Here from those on the leading edge of business, share industry, expertise and how a strong, inflexible network lays the foundation for positive changes in their fields. For Revolutions and customer experience and employee enable meant to it is with the power to change the game and even the world they are building a bridge to what's next and adopting transport, technologies like five g to create a more connected and meaningful future today check out new episodes of the restless ones, avail hold on. I hurt radioactive apple podcast or wherever you listened abad guests. Nissan has a car for everyone. That means every driver who, once more whatever you're more, is more freedom, more had turning style, more turbo charged excitement. Nissan Has it get more fun behind the wheel of the nissan z, the sports car built to deliver the most thrilling dr ever get more act. Hidden from the nissan roque that can take on

any terrain, with a twist of a dial. If more adventure is what europe find it in the nissan pathfinder, the vehicle, with the muscle to handle the journey. Looking for more zip the agile and stylish nissan sandra, is for you and for a drive. That's positively, more electric nissan aria has the perfect combination of rob power and refine luxury. You want more of what makes driving exciting from sports cars and stands to ease pick ups and crossovers nissan is the call, because more is all we do get there most thrills and the more you ve been looking for check out nissan's, exciting line up, learn more at nissan usa, dot com, the one thing we you never get more of his time or can

wait. This is what's an ex orchestrate ai, designed to multiply productivity by automating tasks. When you wants an extra business, you can build digital skills to help human resources, spend less time generating offer letters, writing job directs and managing schedules and spend more time on humans. Let's create more time for your business with. What's next orchestrated, learn more at I b m dot com, slash orchestrated, I b m, let's create hey. This is jason alexander for visible wireless, that you may associate me with a few important phrases like yada, yada, yada, meaning the details, and I dunno some people might think to just go, I was over that, but not me when I saw a wireless company recently say they didn't have any of that yadda yadda stuff didn't have any details. I had a feeling something was off because there's always details any matter and you deserve to know what you're signing up for yadda yadda. That's why I'm in upon gas there for a different wireless company visible on the way

well planned. Get one line of wireless on verizon's five g network for twenty five dollars a month every month. That's it! There's no activation fees, no need for a family plan. Just unlimited data talk text and hot spot, but twenty five dollars a month. All taxes and fees included. There's no surprises, like some of those other guys I love more interested in knowing the details, then pretending they don't exist, learn more about visible wireless, invisible data management practices at visible that come additional terms apply ok. So, like I said before the break between two thousand twelve and two thousand eight eighteen, you didn't see it Many news stories about dig. It just seemed to be performing like a basic, no web page that had news items on it of most of which were either written by an internal editorial team

or were connecting to external news sources. So the next big bit of history that I have to share happened and early spring, two thousand eighteen dig Instead, it was shutting down it's r s as reader tool, So for those of you who are not familiar with our s, ass, it stands were really simples indication or maybe it stands were already of sight. Summary already often turn stands for resource d. should framework. There is actually disagreement on what rss stands for, but really the initial ism doesn't matter are as allows for the distribution of web updates. Our internet content and general too. Lots of other stuff, Oh, what is it actually mean? Well, let's, let's take an example with pod casts. How does your podcast, at whichever one you use. How does it know when there

The new episode of the shows that you subscribe to well pod casts published to a platform and each podcast has an rss feed associated with it. Your pod catching service checks. Updates to the various rss feeds out there, although It was that you subscribe to. So let's say that you subscribed to text off it does a check to see. Is there a new text of Apis if there has not been an update since the last time it did this check? Nothing changes. You know, notifications, nothing like that. If, when it tax, the rss link and it finds an update. Finds out, there's been a new episode added to the the feed, your body, Jeanne apple, say: hey, there's a brand new episode that show your? U like, so you can listen to it whenever you, like rss tech, led to the development of rss readers.

These tools, let you subscribe to various sources and you can view updates to those websites within the reader itself, so instead of physically navigating too, like a dozen different websites that you like in order to just see if anything new, let's say that you know you typically visit four different news sites a couple of gaming sites. Maybe you visit, I don't know what say it, sir, a financial site do you do all these desert? Typically the ones you go to incite going, to each of those individually and looking to see if there are any updates, you can use an rss reader that would just list out in analogic order. Reverse chronological order, typically, what the latest headlines are from the various sources and they would usually let you organised

is in various ways, so you could put all of your sports related stuff in one place. You know all of your gaming stuff in another place, etc, and you could just go through and look for headlines that caught your interest and you don't have to go to each website individually. To see what the updates are. You consolidated everything into a single views, incredibly useful, but by two thousand de the glory of the rss reader days was well in the past. A lot of companies that had previously offered rss readers had since shut them down, for it google shut down. Google reader way back in two thousand thirteen. There are still folks out there today, a decade later, who are sore about that. I'm one of em, honestly rss rears really made it useful to get a quick. look at news, and there still are some out there. I don't wanna say that they don't exist anymore, but some of the biggest ones have long since gone away

anyway dig had maintained its own rss reader tool and it was fittingly enough called dig reader. But in march two thousand and eighteen dig announced that the feature would end on march, twenty sixth molly mchugh of the ringer dot com. A full article about this and lamented the fact that it was the latest in a long string of setbacks for people who just wanted to be Well to view web updates chronologically or reverse chronologically mchugh pointed out that a lot of platforms were leaning, harder and harder on algorithms to determine what are used. would actually see and that algorithms valued engagement and sharing over quality. This turn met. We were getting a lot more junk, fake stuff and misinformation. Put in front of us things that were the grab our attention, but not necessarily reflect reality that

probably sounds familiar right, because we see but dogging about that for a couple of you there's a lot, but this was back in two thousand eighteen, just hasn't gotten any better mchugh express sadness, the yet another rss reader was going the way of the dodo, because, marked another example of how it was growing increasingly hard for an individual, the curate, their own web experience. Instead, the various platforms out there, particularly social networks, were taking over that task for us and painting to us what we would see as opposed to letting us say: hey, I'm really interested in reading information from these sources, because I feel those sources are really reliable, so I just want to see those those She's were going away anyway, just

one month later after they shut down, dig reader, even bigger news came out of dick beta works. Sold off a majority stake in dig to another company called buy, sell adds it would not be it little acquisition beta works. Ceo John birth, which indicated that digs previous shareholders, including beta works itself, would retain some stake in dig. The actual details of the deal remained private so to this day I have no clue how much buy sell adds spent in order get a majority steak. I don't even know what level that majority stake. It's my Dont know what percentage of dig buy, sell adds oats, but why, the heck is buy, sell adds that also

but with a guy named todd garland, he got his start as a web designer and felt that the part he liked the least about creating web pages or administering web pages, was the whole process of securing ads for web pages. To help me oh, generate rep, New he found that entire process to be slow and frustrating and overly complicated any thought why, if you could build some software to automate as much of that process as you possibly can to make it astor and simpler for the end users, what have you could remove all those hurdles that typically exist and through software, just make it a much less painful experience to that end. He built by cell. That's so that from say a webpage standpoint, a publisher standpoint,

A web admin wouldn't have to do anything other than perhaps said a rate say, like art, This is how much I will charge and advertiser too. use of the real estate on my web page and then that burden would just wait to see which add, requests get sent to them through the service and then approve or deny from there, and that would get things going. on the advertiser side, all they had to do was determine if the ad rate made sense like they said well Does it make sense for us to pay this much? Are we gonna get enough traffic for that to be a good investment, and if so, oh! Then they could say aright. While we will, we're interested in including this particular publisher as part of our add campaign, and that would be it. At least that was the idea

I'll, come back to buy, sell adds because the reputation of that company is a little up in the air, as far as I can tell, although from ex dreamily, limited information, so keep all that a mine. At any rate by add, seem like it was an odd fit to purchase. Georgie share in an online media company, but then you could also argue that beta works was a weird fit and beta works had done away back in two thousand twelve. However, when you really start to think about it I argue the buy sell adds acquisition makes a little more sense, because an ad company does serve two sets of customers right. You ve got your advertisers who want to get ads in front of people, preferably people or more likely going to act on the at than otherwise. And then you ve got your publishers, the the people,

who have real estate to offer that they want to monetize their sites in order to generate revenue. A company like by so adds has to satisfy both groups right. They have to satisfy both the advertisers and the publishers. And by gaining majority ownership of a publisher, because that's what digg is at this point, it's a publisher, it's non aggregator anymore, really well. That means that Basle adds now has a platform where it can actively test out new strategies. They can deploy new approaches to matching adds to content. again look and see which of these are working well, which ones don't like which ones are generating more click through which ones are not and I think that is like a testing ground. It can then perhaps deploy strategies across larger groups of customers in addition to that

it. Also of this assembly, elected garland, is actually said, buys a lads, can try and design a publication platform strategy that in theory, maximizes the publishers ability to monetize their site and then once they have figured out What strategy they can then licence that two other publishers, so in other words they come up with a process that other people, sure, can follow and by paying by cell ads or say, here's how you do it and just work with us and will make sure that we match you with advertisers that are going to make the best use of your platform in everyone's happy. The advertisers get there. acted on by a larger audience. You get a bigger pay out because of the. Add revenue come again and we all get rich.

However bicycle adds purchasing dig made. Some folks feel anxious his pride too big a word, because at this point dig it it really wasn't in the the spotlight anymore. It was really the mind share of your average netizen if I am to use outdated terminology. So that being said, people are still thinking well, they might not be a great relationship for an ad company to purchase a media company It almost seems like a conflict of interests right. You could definitely see how an ad company might age, the media companies, so that it just as a vehicle for delivering ads similar to how the algorithm really just wants to get as much engagement as possible. There's the fear that an ad company would turn a media company into just a way to display, as many ads as pos

but the sight had reportedly actually kind of made a slight recovery over the years after the disaster. That was the dig version for roll out. It wasn't anything close to what it was in its heyday, but it was doing better than it had been. So there was this question of wood. This mean that dig would lose what little momentum minute grab back post a beta works acquisition well there's not a ton of information out their upheld this, but cayley barber of digits day did cite some unnamed former dig employees who explained what happened in the wake If this acquisition deal, this was in an article that was titled. Add tech companies have stopped innovating why buy, sell ads is buying up media brands, so it wasn't just

well bicycle adds a dig. There was also a discussion about another out like a piano but It was had a lot of of dig in it. This article published back on october, twenty ninth, two thousand nineteen. So it's a few years old now and, according to those unnamed former, dig employees, the technology met. Dig was essentially let go upon the conclusion of this deal, so the whole tech team at dig is gone. Some of them would actually end up hired on by a blockchain focused journalism market place, there was called civil unfortunate. before them civil would give up the ghost two years later in twenty twenty it shut down after the leaders. Team at civil determined that the business was just not sustainable. particularly in the wake of a massive decline and the blockchain slash crypto industry by sal ads pointedly absorbed the dig sales team.

And the business side of the staff into its own operation surveys, and she said I bring you win as by so adds team members not specifically dig team members I'll have the editorial staff. Things were pretty rough within a year of the deal being amount, a general manager to full time original content, editors and a video editor we're all laid off from dig others who had been working in an editorial capacity left on their own and when arbour wrote her article four digit day back in two thousand, I teen she said the entire editorial staff, a dig at that point consisted of five full time. Employees and one p time, staff member that was essentially what was left of dick. Ok, we're gonna. Take another quick break.

When I come back I'll, wrap up this update on, what's been going on with dick. hey podcast listeners returning for season for is the restless months, an original podcast presented by t mobile for business, and I heart radio, join me as I sit down for in depth discussions with the people at the intersection of technology and business, learn of their unique missions and challenges to enhance, optimization and drive their organizations forward. We reveal how Today's forward thinking leaders continue to thrive and a world of ever changing technology. Here from those on the leading edge of business, share industry, expertise and how a strong, inflexible network lays the foundation for positive changes in their fields. revolutions and customer experience and employee enable meant to,

ideas with the power to change the game and even the world they are building a bridge to what's next and adopting transfer but if technologies like five g to create a more connected and meaningful future, today check out new results of the restless ones away. on the iheart radioactive apple podcast or wherever you listened broadcasts, Nissan has a car for everyone. That means every driver who, once more whatever you're more, is more freedom, more head, turning style, more turbo charged excitement Nissan has it get more fun behind the wheel of any sonsy. The sports car built to deliver the most thrilling. Dr ever get more act, Hidden from the nissan rope that can take on any terrain with a twist of a dial if more adventure is what europe I find it in the nissan pathfinder, the vehicle, with the muscle to handle the journey. Looking for more zip,

the agile and stylish nissan sandra is for you and for a drive. That's positively more electric nissan aria, has the perfect combination of raw power and refined luxury, you want more of what makes driving exciting from sports cars and stands to ease pick ups and crossovers nissan is the call because more is all we do get the and was thrills and the more you been looking for check out, nissan's, exciting line up, learn more, at nissan usa, dot com, people or accept about what a I will do for them,

I b m we're excited about what ai will do for business. Your business introducing watson x a platform designed to multiply output by training ai with your data. When you want an extra business, you can build ai to help coders code faster customer service, respond quicker and employees handle repetitive tasks in less time. Let's create ai that transforms business with watson. Next learn more at I bm dot com, slash watson x, I b m, let's create hey. This is jason alexander for visible wireless, that you may associate me with a few important phrases like yadda, yadda, yadda, meaning the details, and I dunno some people might think to just What was over that, but not me when I saw a wireless company recently say they didn't have any of that yadda yadda stuff didn't have any details. I had a feeling something was off because there's only details any matter, and you deserve to know what your signing up for yadda yadda. That's! Why? I'm in a pot gas that for a different wireless company, visible on the

isabel plan get one line of wireless on verizon's five g network for twenty five dollars. A month every month, that's it there's no activation fees, no need for a family plan, just unlimited data talk text and hot spot, but twenty five dollars a month, all taxes and fees included. There's no surprises like some of those other guys. to have you more interested in knowing the details, then pretending they don't exist, learn more about visible wireless, invisible data management practices at visible that come additional terms, apply Okay, so we're back, talking about how digs staff was whittled down after the acquisition would buy, sell ads the majority stake in the company, but as dig itself. It still exists, dig, a com is a website. You can go and you can visit it. The site posts you articles on a regular basis. I checked I was making shirk as they made. Sometimes you go to these things near like

oh there's a ton of articles here, then you click through like oh, just posted like eighteen months ago. That's not the case! dig, there are a lot of new articles on the various categories that dig covers, which includes against like news and gaming and sports, based on the byline that I saw to me at least it looks like there's a pretty small editorial staff in place there. There might be a couple of freelancers, who write for dig, but mostly I'm just seeing the same names pop up over and over again so looks to me that they are mostly referencing news items that are posted elsewhere, like maybe it's a press release some cases, their referencing, this article that went on some other media outlets. That is not the key, a shade on them right, I'm not saying they're doing a bad job, because they're going to other news sites and say that

article overhear says blah blah blah lots of of outlets out their due business insider. Does this all the time you go there also like reuters reports or fast company reports or whatever. I also can't. Imagine that any of the staff on digg The notorious all group has an opportune they do any sort of investigative journalism. I dont think that they have the time to do that, because from what I see it looks like a lot of them. posting multiple articles per day and at that level of output you don't time to do things like take extra steps and really do investigative work, it's just impossible. If you ever an output quota that you need to mate. clearly dig- does not resemble what it used to be when it was. First launched not by a long shot, but that raises another question: how is it doing as far as performance go

that's a great question is also a question. That's very hard to answer, largely because third party traffic analytics- not what I would call you're an or even reliable? So let me give you a pair of examples supposedly about dig this kind of illustrates why it's hot to get insight into how well a website is doing unless you have direct access to it. colonel analytics, If I search for digs web traffic analytics on like google, and I pull up a couple of different firms, I can get very different information. An effect I did do this. So one of the companies I looked up was sam rush s e m. Are u s age and using some rash. I'm told at the most recent number of monthly visitors to dig dot com was eight point: nine million that that was for, like

august eight point: nine million monthly users isn't terrible. It is still a fraction of what dig saw back in its glory days And some rash ranks the site is now being eleven Elsa two hundred twenty seven by web traffic in the world, or two thousand eight hundred night teeth in the united states further. It says the average person whose visiting dig dot com sticks around for around eight and a half minutes per visit, that there is a bounce rate of fifty six point, o four percent. means slightly more than half of the people who visit dig. Navigate away immediately, like they come to dig duck. They take a look and then they go somewhere else that the other side. less than half are the ones for sticking around and apparently spending eight and a half minutes on the site. But let's we hop over to a competing web analytics service called similar web will then we get. Some very

for an information, so similar web marks, the balance right at fifty four point, one seven per cent of that actually pretty darn close to some rash right. Some rash said fifty six point: four similar websites. Fifty four point, one: seven that's closely or you could say: oh there's, probably some margin of error that accounts for this discrepancy. That's not too bad bite summer. says the most recent monthly Emma analytics had eight point. Nine million visitors, so or web says. No. No, no! It's four point. One million visitors, that's less than half of what some rush said, is a huge discrepancy. There's no margin of error, that's gonna, say kill greater than fifty percent. You do do be useless to use the tool if there's a greater than

two percent margin of error. Why use the tool at all? You don't have any idea. What the real answer is so yeah four point: one million monthly visitors according to one web analytics site. and eight point: nine million according to another, these do not line up Moreover, some rush said the average person would stick around four and a half minutes right, we'll similar absence. No, no, no! It's two and a half minutes so again huge discrepancy here. So you see, I can't really draw any conclusions about how digg is doing as far as performance and web traffic goes I can't even say with any confidence that the site gets somewhere between four million and nine million visitors per month because got a discrepancy that that's big? How can you do?

are any conclusion whatsoever. I do think it is safe to say that what ever digg is seeing in monthly traffic, it is not close to what it was before. The disastrous roll out of dig version, for I also mentioned that I would get back to saying something about by so ass now. For. I go to any of this. There disclaimers I need to make. I have to stress. The information I saw is based on a a very very small number of reviews for the company from supposed customers of myself and we should also remember that the people who are most likely to post ads are the one to have had a negative experience. It is much more rare for someone who had a positive experience to just say everything went smoothly. Unless it was a truly positive experience which case, then they might leave a review. So I dont want us to come across as anything to a definitive overview of buy sell, adds why wilson

is the trust pilot Score for buy sell adds is in the gutter. It is at one point nine out of a possible five I three percent. The reviews are one star, but again this for a very, very small number of reviews. They're, just fourteen reviews on trust pilot about buy sell, adds the reviews reference, similar complaints. So on the publisher side, one or a few claimed that they signed up for service will buy, sell adds receive, notification about an advertiser wanting to post and add to the site, and so they then approve the ad lib, tell it works right by solids matches advertisers to the sites says they are offering to publish an add on your site, yea or nay, and this person said yea. then they said that they saw a bicycle adds had been cancelling. Some of the agreed pawn add deals that they had agreed on the sad deal.

Add, maybe ran for a while, but then got cancelled early on and the he's incited was fraud. Then they found their entire site was removed from buy, sell, adds marketplace because it quota quote: attracts fraud now If we assume that this is an honest review, which is a big assumption already, This obviously raises flags because it was by so adds that was set in the ad offers to the publisher in the first place. So, presumably if there are any issues with fraud. Buys all adds, should have an obligation to find that out and prevent it from getting to this stage. If the publisher is just approving opportunities that buy sell adds is presenting to them How is the publisher responsible for the ads if those There are actually fraudulent, but again This is all assuming. The review itself is honest.

The reviews came in from the advertising side, with several people saying they had engaged by cell adds to place ads in various campaigns only to find the campaign count shut down after a short amount of time and Then they were trying desperately to get a refund on the ad campaign, because the campaign would be shy down prematurely, their own accounts would get shut down, and yet they would have been charged for the service and the ads often mention that getting in touch with customer service and buy sell adds was practically impossible, but again just fourteen reviews that is far too small a number two even remotely call it a sample size and it could be we'll be that none of those reviews are entirely honest or accurate or even remotely. So I think it's only fair to point out that if you were to go to a site like g to dot com, there are just two: overviews whereby cell adds there, but those

reviews, create an aggregate score of three point. Eight out of five, which stellar, but its work. A better than one point: nine trust pilot right so again A lot of views that are on g2 dot com are actually four or five star reviews. Theirs, One was like a no story review which brought the average down and it in, I think it may have been one of the same people who left a review of trust pilot, so I can't make any real the conclusion about bicycle ads are just too little data, theirs way to tell whether or not people like kit or don't like it, there's just not that much information and part of that, I think, is because it still a relatively small company, but that's the update on digg and its current corporate overlord. I think about dick. The same way. I think about my space, because technically there is still a site that still dig, but

remotely resemble what it used to be, and it has a fraction of the mind, share that at once. Commanded again I'll think people talk about is any more or there like hey. Do you remember when every one was using dig, that's the context they use that it I wouldn't does of art. Day that digs grave has been dug. Because trust me there's no shit. The job articles out there that have a similar pun to them. but I will say: digg is not even close to what it used to be I have no reason to expect that to change in the foreseeable future maybe they'll be another change and ownership of dig in the future. That brings us back to this more democratized approach, as what did was when it first launched, but unless you can do that and also find a way to generate revenue so that you can pay for the whole thing. It may be. A non starter because of the only thing you can do is seek out endless rounds of

venture capital funding sooner or later, that gravy train was gonna, come to an end and you'll be really stuck. I think lot of digs problems actually came out of the fact that the company was looking for ways to monetize, in a way that would be sustainable and, unfortunately allow those ways were in conflict, with the very features that the community valued and it was really a problem. We see this over and over right twitters. The same way, we saw with twitter, where the things that people valued with twitter were things that were easily monitor, the ball and the ways to monetize twitter were things that rubbed people the wrong way and that's continuing today, as twitter has trance formed into Ex say I'm not an unusual story when it comes to web start ups anyway. That's the update on digg not much else. I can say of any real substance. I would love to learn,

more about it and maybe I'll reach out to some of the people who are ill. Apparently, writing articles four dig just a kind of get an idea of what like it could very well be that that everyone there is incredibly happy. Based upon the output, I would imagine it's gotta be pretty stressful. I remember when I was writing an article a day and how that was really putting a large Stress on me having I do a podcast a day pretty much here, and that is pretty stress I can imagine doing multiple once a day that would be pretty tough. Anyway, that's the update I hope you are all well and I'll talk to you again releasing text. is an eye heart radio production for more podcast from my heart radio visit the iheart radio, an apple pie

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