Update: This story has been DUGG (but is not yet 'Scaped).
Update2: Looks like the story has been killed on DIGG--go figure. :-)
OK, it's on. :-)
On the latest DIGG Nation (minute 8), Digg co-funder Kevin Rose goes on a massive attack of my plans to hire a dozen top social bookmarkers, but he doesn't seem to have a point about it. I'd actually be interested in hearing what he thinks about paying folks to do social bookmarking, but instead he just personally attacks me.
This is a serious discussion and I'm saddened that Kevin has reduced it to personal attacks. At the very least he could have a serious discussion about it *AFTER* he attacks me.*
Also, Kevin has some facts wrong:
1. The top DIGG users have not changed that much over time.
2. The top DIGG users are not responsible for 14% of stories--they are responsible for over 50%.
Also, the truth is that DIGG, REDDIT, Newsvine, Delicious, and Netscape will all succed together. There are very few winner-take-all verticals on the Internet. There are 3-5 major players in email, IM, and search--no one owns 80-90% of a market. It really isn't about Netscape vs. DIGG... in reality the battle is "social news vs. top-down news." Kevin and I are brothers in arms right now and at some point I hope he will realize that.
The top ~50 members on these services are responsible for over 50% of the top stories--that's a straight up fact and Kevin knows it. That seems to scare the heck out of him, and it shouldn't. I've created a market for these users, and others are about to jump in and do that same (I know this for a fact). So, if there is gonna be a market for community leaders, why not just join the party Kevin? You raised a ton of money and you can raise more. You're making money from advertising and you can easily afford to pay the top 12 users $1,000 a month each--share the wealth dude! Why not carve out 10-20% of your revenue for users?
It only makes sense that folks should be paid for community leaders.
Kevin Rose is going to make millions of dollars (perhaps tens of millions) when he sells DIGG to Yahoo (my best guess). When he does sell DIGG--and trust me it will be sold before in the next 12 months--he will have done it on the backs of those top 50 members. Those top 50 members will get exactly... ummm..... nothing. If I was running Netscape as a startup I would create a bonus pool for these users in the case the site gets bought. I can't do that given our structure, so we're gonna just pay folks. Kevin should do something similar.
* For those of you entrepreneurs watching make a note: you know you're winning when the debate when the other side opts out of the logical discussion and moves to personal attacks.
** Update: A considered story on the issue here--I wish Kevin would take this issue seriously and discuss it like Jay does.
Kevin Rose cracks (or "how to know when you've won the debate")
Reader Comments
(Page 2 of 2)23. Sorry Jason, but you're wrong. Your crying foul of personal attacks is silly at best. The fact of the matter is, that you are as a member of a corporate entity are trying to create a business model where none exists. So you villify an open source hero like Mr. Rose and cry foul when things are going your way. The fact of the matter is that Kevin and the engineers at Digg have created something fantastic that is gathering the kind of traffic that a service based business need to survive. You're trying to capitalize on that by killing the community aspect and introducing a much needed and hardly reliable business model. Digg doesn't need you at this moment and saying so doesn't make it true. You need Digg. You need users to invest their time in this concept for you to be able to drive traffic from it. I find your rant sophomoric. Whatever interest I had in Netscape is washed clean by the arrogance you exibit here. Kevin was right. He's trying to level the playing field and you're trying to create a market. Which means that as far as social concepts go...you've missed the point entirely.
Posted at 9:51PM on Jul 25th 2006 by fallenrogue
24. Tip #2: Saying something over and over doesn't make it true (i.e., 'how to know when you've won the debate'"). It just makes you repetitive (and maybe delusional?).
Posted at 9:54PM on Jul 25th 2006 by Mike Kelley
25. I'm pretty sure that the whole point of digg was to give tech news back to the community and to NOT have a group of paid individuals decide what news was important. Now you piss and moan b/c a top few use digg more than you do and therefore have more say in it than you do, so ummm....use it more then, the power is in your hands, if you decide not to use it why attack how it's set up. Your in essense saying that b/c it doesn't work the way that you think it should that Kevin should change it so it's like any other tech website out there.
Posted at 10:01PM on Jul 25th 2006 by Matthew Middleton
26. We are going to break digg, so check out the blog and see if you want to be part of Webreakdigg.
Posted at 10:32PM on Jul 25th 2006 by webreakdigg
27. I challenged twit to a geek olympics and got no response. Apparently those who are popular aren't interested in engaging with us "common folk"
Basically, Rose's comments say that Netscape isn't worthy of being mentioned in the same breath as digg. That surprised the crap out of me honestly.
Jason, give me a shout at info@bestdamntech.com, lets clear the air on this. While Best Damn Tech Show, Period. might not be as big as twit, I challenge their creativity, delivery, and respect for the tech/geek community any day.
Posted at 10:44PM on Jul 25th 2006 by Drew Olanoff
29. Jason, I agree with you on this. It actually seems counterintuitive to *not* pay the folks who are generating a lot of the content.
Nevertheless, lay off the "help the poor working gent" routine that you're laying on Kevin. It's way overwrought. Hearing one rich-dude tell another future-rich-dude to be more generous is weak sauce.
Add your comments
Please keep your comments relevant to this blog entry: inappropriate or purely promotional comments may be removed. Email addresses are never displayed, but they are required to confirm your comments. To create a live link, simply type the URL (including http://) or email address and we will make it a live link for you. You can put up to 3 URLs in your comments. Line breaks and paragraphs are automatically converted — no need to use <p> or <br> tags.
21. Have you seen how many people post the same story on Digg? Sometimes it's a matter of luck to make it on the front page. If you take away the top Digger they'll only get replaced by another. It seems Jason believes that the same stories he pays to get posted on his site won?t be posted on Digg.
Posted at 9:39PM on Jul 25th 2006 by D