Astute readers may have noticed that posts on this blog now come adorned with a yellow icon at the top left that says "Digg This!" and has a number in it. I’m guessing that most folks reading this blog don’t know what this means. Let me explain.
Social networking is a driving force on the web now. People’s sites live and die on the word of others. When you have an incredibly good site, like, say, Bad Astronomy, it rises to the top. Other people like it, they mention it on their site, and links pour in. Life is good.
But not good enough. I’m really glad to have the readers I do, but I always want more. I want to spread the gospel of science and astronomy! Well, you know what I mean. Flagrant self-promotion is my only option, which I do all the time. But despite the snarky silliness I usually use (did I mention this is an incredibly good site?) I can only do so much.
But there are some amazing sites out there that do a fantastic job of getting the word out. One of the most popular is Digg.com. There, people can see what sites/blogs/pictures/whatever other people like, and vote on them, up or down. I look at Digg pretty much every day; the space section is really good. And I find that usually at least one or two of the Top 10 stories there is worth reading.
If you see a story you like, you submit it to Digg, and others can digg it. The problem is, that can be a bit tedious, so I have made it easier for you, O My Loyal BABloggees: hence the yellow button. If you click it, you will be swept away to Digg, where you can easily go through the process to submit the blog entry. And even better, if someone has already done it, all you have to do is click the button and it will be Dugg automatically! One caveat: you need to register with Digg, but that only takes a sec, and they won’t do anything with your email, etc etc.
Remember my Top Ten Astronomy Images of 2006 post? It got submitted to Digg and within two days had hundreds of diggs and got over 200,000 visits! That’s what I’m talkin’ about.
Not every post deserves to get Dugg (like this one certainly doesn’t; it’s just a public service announcement), but if you see one you really like, give it a shot. I’d appreciate it.
Digg it, baby.
Optional other titles for this post: Baby Can You Dig Your Man (with apologies to Steven King), and Can You Digg It, Yes I Can (with apologies to Chicago).
March 13th, 2007 at 8:15 pm
Digg is a great site and links to a ton of great articles, including yours.
But, it can be an annoyance at times. There are far too many Mac and Linux fanboys there. I don’t really mind the Linux guys, because I in fact don’t mind Linux. Mac fans are part of rabid cults however, and most of them seem to group at Digg. Just ignore all the Mac propaganda, and you should be fine.
March 13th, 2007 at 8:31 pm
That’s why I avoid the tech and stick with science and space.
March 13th, 2007 at 8:42 pm
cool, I digg.
March 13th, 2007 at 8:46 pm
Wow, I didn’t know about this. I’m always trying to get more people to read the things I like (I know, I’m a good blogee
), but this seems like a better way.
March 13th, 2007 at 8:47 pm
I’m a mac-fanboy.
That’s why I’ve got a Digg widget installed.
March 14th, 2007 at 1:40 am
I’m a Mac OS and Linux fan-girl because they’re both GOOD OSs. Face it, a lot of people may use Windows but it has very few FANS because it’s utter PANTS :-p
March 14th, 2007 at 3:26 am
Digg is awful.
March 14th, 2007 at 5:00 am
The web really has become a narcissist’s dream.
March 14th, 2007 at 7:15 am
Digg is how I first found the ba-blog. It was back when the college drop (the PR appointee) out at nasa was big news.
However I stopped reading digg months ago, and feel better for it.
March 14th, 2007 at 9:38 am
Sent the 1300 black holes to Digg. Soon, they will be sucked in,,,,Ah, Haw, haw!!!
GAry 7
March 14th, 2007 at 11:21 am
I prefer “I Can Dig It, Baby” by Little Beaver. (Featuring Jaco Pastorius!)
March 14th, 2007 at 1:34 pm
Uh oh. Isn’t this a WordPress site? I’ve seen many WordPress sites destroyed by the Digg hordes.
March 14th, 2007 at 1:41 pm
Osakaguy, I have been Dugg, Slashdotted, and Farked many times. We have worked to make our server perform well under such onerous circumstances.
March 14th, 2007 at 8:58 pm
I don’t begrudge you trying to get more readers, but that digg button is way to huge and really disrupts the design of the site with it placed at the top of each article. Isn’t there a smaller alternative that could be placed at the bottom with the other social bookmarking links?
March 14th, 2007 at 8:59 pm
sorry I spelled too wrong.
March 15th, 2007 at 5:43 am
Digg used to be ok but I really reccomend reddit.com its user base is much better for this blog.
March 15th, 2007 at 10:10 am
Just a suggestion.. how bout you only offer some entries to be dugg then rather than have a thin stream of digs accross everything, just the ones you think are important can pick up all the votes and get noticed by the world