Colbert Study: Conservatives Don't Know He's Joking

Today's Digg leader is an article from the left-wing Huffington Post about Comedy Central superstar Stephen Colbert. The article highlights an Ohio State study which concluded that conservatives don't understand Colbert's humor. Here's why it works:

1) Colbert: As we've established, Digg is populated primarily by young liberals; and young liberals love Stephen Colbert. (Mainly because young liberals hate Bill O'Reilly, and Colbert is the anti-O'Reilly.) The study in the article concludes favorably for fans of Colbert -- basically that conservatives just aren't smart enough to "get" Colbert. If the study hadn't concluded favorably for Colbert, surely the article would not have reached as high up on Digg.

2) Brevity: The study featured in the article was scientific, academic, and well-documented. This means that the article writer could have flooded his post with text and data to support the conclusion. However, he didn't do that; instead, the article is succinct and easy-to-read. It works much better that way for Digg.

Pirate Bay IP Addresses Assigned to Prosecution Lawyers

Today's Digg leader is a blog post concerning some strange activity going on in relation to the Pirate Bay trial. (Pirate Bay, by the way, is the world's largest online directory of free, downloadable copyrighted material. The founders were recently sentenced to one-year jailtime for copyright infringement. The decision has generated much internet buzz.) Here's why it works:

1) Advocacy against private-property: For some strange reason, people all over the internet are coming to the defense of the Pirate Bay. Why is this? The Pirate Bay traffics in stolen digital material; material that has been copied and reproduced without the creator's permission. To defend such a practice is to defend theft in general; or, in other terms, to advocate that no one has the right to own anything. Such a mentality could only be popular in highly liberal, statist groups that believe people have a "right" to public-property.

2) Refer to #1: I can't find any other reason why this blog post has risen so high on Digg. It's not particularly easy to read, it's not funny, and it's not a picture (the post contains a picture, but it's not the focal point of the article). My conclusion is that there must be a large group of Pirate Bay supporters on Digg.

Just a Whole Bucket of Cute!

Today's Digg leader is a blog post about a picture of small dog with his foot stuck in an empty roll of toilet paper. Check out the picture below:

Here's why it works:

1) Cuteness: For whatever reason, people don't tire of looking at cute or funny pictures of domesticated animals. Not only do they work well around the internet -- just look at the success of I Can Has Cheezburger? -- but they work well on Digg. Of course, cuteness is a subjective measure, but as long as you stick with small dogs and cats you should be okay.

2) Picture: This seems to be the most frequently cited reason for success of a story on Digg. It's because pictures convey a lot of information in an extremely short period of time (relative to a textual description of a picture). Digg users, like all other Internet users, have very short attention spans, and are probably viewing dozens of pages in one sitting. This means you need to grab their attention and convey as much information as possible to convince them to Digg your story -- a function that the use of pictures works very well for.

Digg frontpage after marijuana legalization [Pic]

I have pointed out frequently in the past that most Digg users are young, idealistic liberals. While it's hard to prove any claim about Digg users, as such studies have never been undertaken, today's Digg leader might just be as close to a proof as we're ever going to get: It's an image showing the Digg front page after marijuana becomes legal. Here's why it works:

1) Advocacy for marijuana: Whether it's for legalization or just about smoking it in general, articles about marijuana do very well on Digg. Use this to your advantage, even if you disagree. (How? I don't know.)

2) Comedy: The article is not a serious, complex opinion piece about marijuana. Instead, it's a lighthearted image highlighting some of the most humorous effects of legalizing marijuana. It's not meant to be taken seriously; it's meant to arouse a few chuckles from the marijuana-smoking crowd.

3) Easy to read: The article contains news stories that include a title and a description, both no longer than one sentence. It's very easy to scan the article, read the content, and move on. Brevity and readability are two strong components of articles that work well for Digg.

Vermont Legalizes Gay Marriage, Overrides Governor's Veto

Today's Digg leader is an article from the left-wing Huffington Post about Vermont's decision to legalize gay marriage. Here's why it works:

1) Good news for liberals: Most Digg users are liberal. For proof, simply do a search for the term "Sarah Palin" on Digg.com. You'll find a whole page of negative articles about Sarah Palin. Now try the term "Barack Obama." The results are much different. So if you want your story to rise on Digg, make sure liberals like it. Support for gay marriage is, of course, part of the current liberal agenda, which is why good news about gay marriage means a good response from Diggers.

2) Approved source: The Huffington Post is not a straight news outlet like CNN or FOX News; it's a website for liberal-only news and commentary. This means that it's probably populated by the same users that populate Digg. Every news outlet covered the Vermont gay marriage story, yet it was only the Huffington Post's coverage that made the top of Digg. This is because Digg users support sites they approve by Digging articles coming from those sites.

BREAKING: Warner Bros. Acquires The Pirate Bay

Today's Digg leader is an article containing news that Warner Bros. has purchased The Pirate Bay, the world's largest Torrent tracker. Torrents, for the layman, is a digital method to share files, from Word documents to songs to movies to video games. They are widely used for sharing copyrighted material, making the Warner Bros. announcement a surprising one indeed. Here's why the article works:

1) An assault on web "freedom": There is a large contingency of web users who feel they have the right to share all data they please, whether or not the data is copyrighted. They were the ones who fought Metallica when Metallica fought Napster; they are the ones using sites like The Pirate Bay and Mininova that traffic in illegal material. When the government or big business removes their "right" to copyrighted material, they do their best to make a big deal out of the issue. In the case, the big deal was Digging the article as many times as possible.

2) Believable April Fool's joke: Unfortunately (or fortunately?), the article is an April Fool's hoax, meaning it is entirely untrue. However, it was presented as a real piece of news and the web site it comes from gives no evidence that the article is fake. (Except for the users that caught on and left comments.) Apparently Diggers respond well to a good April Fool's hoax. Too bad that only works one day out of the year.

Did You Know? It Will Blow Your Mind.

Today's Digg leader is a four minute, fifty-five second long YouTube video about interesting statistics that reflect a changing, globalized age. It doesn't sound like something that would be at the top of Digg; yet it is. The video is embedded below:



Here's why it works:

1) Excellent presentation: The video is nothing more than a vehicle to present certain statistics. Yes, the statistics are fascinating, but if they were presented as plain text in a relatively unexciting web page, Digg users would have passed right over it. The video is visually stimulating, giving the eye something to focus on every four or five seconds. It's also audibly stimulating, featuring a song that matches the theme of the presentation. Only because those two elements work together does the overall video work as well.

2) Fascinating information: Generally, as most scientists and math-based people are aware of, statistics are pointless, and can be twisted and distorted to convey almost any point the twister/distorter wishes to convey. However, this property of statistics makes them highly effective at evoking emotion, which masses of people will respond to. The statistics that the authors of the video used provoke a mind-boggling, somewhat-pessimistic/somewhat-optomistic emotion. Whatever the emotion was exactly, it worked well for Digg.

Finally Found Him!!

Today's Digg leader comes in the form of a specific location on Google Maps where Waldo, from the Where's Waldo? series, can be found. I've spared you the suspense and provided you with a screenshot from the map below. Here's why it works:


1) Comedy: Funny things work extremely well on Digg. It's in the nature of jokes to pass them on, or retell the joke, and the same is true for online jokes. How better to retell a joke than to Digg it, or email it to a friend? Besides, most people that use Digg are simply browsing to find interesting stories; they're not going to sit and read a thousand-page treatise on, say, economics. Keep it funny, keep it pithy.

2) Childhood reference: Remember, most Digg users are twenty/early thirty-somethings. This means references to child trends in the 80s/early 90s will bring back feelings of nostalgia and delight, and hopefully provoke a reaction like, "Oh, snap: I remember that!" References to Waldo accomplish just that. So do references to He-Man, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, GI Joe, etc.

Obama To Overturn Major Bush-Era Marijuana Ruling

Today's Digg leader signals the discovery of a new motif: marijuana advocacy. It comes in the form of an article from NationalJournal.com concerning President Obama overturning orders stemming from the Bush administration. Here's why it works:

1) Obama idolatry: In the eyes of most Diggers (remember, we're talking about predominantly white, San Francisco-based, tech-savvy men), Obama can do no wrong; therefore, any article expressing the same sentiment is likely to do well on Digg. The article presents wonderful Obama words without any sort of accompanying criticism; e.g., Obama said, "The public must be able to trust the science and scientific process informing public policy decisions. Public officials should not suppress or alter scientific or technological findings and conclusions." Hey, that sounds nice -- would he apply the same mindset to evidence against man-made climate change? This writer thinks not.

2) Marijuana advocacy: The gist of the article is that marijuana is good and many public officials feel the same way. That's great news if you're in favor of legalizing marijuana, and in our case most Diggers want marijuana legalized, so it's no surprise this article was Dugg so many times.

Virginity rates among students by major

Today's Digg leader is a "study" of the correlation between the percentage of virgins and their college major at Wellesley College. I hesitate to proclaim this a true study, because there is literally zero supporting data presented on the page (e.g., sample size, author, etc.). At any rate, the Diggers love it, and the resulting graph is below, followed by why it works.1) Sex: Sex sells; everyone knows this. More importantly though, when it comes to Digg, sex sells if and only if it's about women. Remember, the main Digg demographic is nerdy white college-age men. They don't care about the newest cute picture of David Beckham. But show them a study of the "easiest" girls at school sorted by major, and they're gonna be sending it all the brothers at their fraternity.

2) College: Most people's first impression when they hear the word "college" is not books and studying, but beer and partying. Because beer and partying is exciting, college is exciting; people like to pass on exciting information; because college is exciting, people want to pass on information about it. You follow?

Largest Swimming Pool in the World (PICS)

Today's Digg leader is an article in the Los Angeles Times about a resort in Chile boasting the world's largest swimming pool. Here's a quick glimpse (check out the article to find more beautiful pictures):


Here's why it works:

1) Exotic destinations: Remember your main Digg demographic: white men between 18-35, 100% of which are sitting in front of a computer, most likely in an office or some sort of enclosed, indoor area. That means posts about exotic locations -- think beaches, sunlight, and palm trees -- are very appealing and are sure to get Dugg.

2) Pictures: What's likely to work better on Digg: an article merely commenting about the world's largest swimming pool, or an article showing you the world's largest swimming pool? Obviously, the article wouldn't be at the top of Digg without a few glamorous pictures.

3) Authority: The authority is this case doesn't come from the source, the Los Angeles Times, but from the Guinness Book of World Records. Because how can you claim to be the "largest" of anything without Guinness' approval?

Visualizing 1,400,000 Gravestones [PIC]

There's an exception to every rule, and today's Digg leader is the exception to the rule that only liberal-friendly content will reach the front page. It's a picture of 1.4 million gravestones, the amount of people killed under the Cambodian socialist Khmer Rouge regime. The image is too large to upload to my blog, so you'll have to go here to check it out. Here's why it works:

1) Real-world depiction of a statistic: Statistics have more impact when they're taken out of their raw numerical context and made more "real," thereby utilizing not only logos but pathos as well. "One-point-four million" is simply unimaginable to most people, as most people don't have 1.4 million of anything. But turn it into a cute web graphic, and you're getting somewhere.

2) Picture: It's a picture. Pictures work. We've gone over this before.

3) Relevancy to Bush: Digg users hear the term "war deaths" and immediately their brains think "George Bush" and "Iraq." I'll bet a lot of users Dugg this picture without realizing that the Khmer Rouge was not a rogue Christian government attacking the Middle East, but a Stalinist/Communist/socialist regime in southeast Asia. So even though the picture had nothing to do with George Bush, on Digg -- it did.

My Reponse to Whiny Digg Power Users

Digg, like any company that dominates its sector (Wal-Mart, Microsoft, McDonald's, Exxon, etc.), frequently comes under harsh scrutiny. However, this time the scrutiny is coming from the inside: Digg's top users have banded together and submitted a letter to Digg management, complaining about Digg policy. Here's the best, i.e. worst, parts of the letter, along with my poignant commentary:

The authors are troubled that "the premise of [Digg] is such that it is based on competition." How interesting that they are quick to lash out against competition, yet it is precisely they who have benefited most from it. Without competition, every Digg user would be a top user, and the opinions of those writing the letter would be no different from anyone else. Without competition, Digg users wouldn't really care or put the effort into finding interesting articles to submit, making the site much the worse overall.

The authors charge that "Digg has repeatedly failed to respond to its users and address their concerns." So what? Do they have an obligation to respond to every user? Certainly not; they are a private company.

The authors complain of "unexplained and unacknowledged banning of top users," and remark that "these are not the actions of a 'democratic news site',"thereby fully acknowledging that they have no respect for a private company. Despite what these idealists think Digg is all about, it is first and foremost a profit-generating machine. If Digg determines it will be better off with certain users banned, so be it.

The authors' closing point is that Digg has displayed "repeated and flagrant disrespect of its top users," and they request that they be given more power to control the content of the site. It reminds me very much of big business lobbyists in Washington, D.C., begging the government to meet their special interest needs. Sorry, top Digg users -- you can't keep your place forever.

The last line of the letter reads "What happens if the most powerful users in the community decide to leave?" I say, Don't let the door hit you on the way out.

There's roughly three million Digg users. A few less whiners wouldn't be such a bad thing.

Legalize Pot and Save the Economy!

Today's Digg leader features neither silly pictures nor references to Barack Obama. Instead, Digg users have selected a commentary from CBS News concerning the legalization of marijuana. Here's why it works:

1) Support for marijuana legalization: Being that the article is commentary and not a hard news piece, the writer is well within his bounds to subjectively support or oppose the topic he's writing about. In this case, he supports the legalization of marijuana, which goes over extremely well with the Digg "fanboys" who wildly agree on the subject.

Remember: Digg is a San Francisco-based company, so what's popular in San Francisco is what will be popular on Digg.

2) Brevity: The article's entire text can almost fit into one browser window. This is much different than, say, a New York Times article -- you know the type: you get to the bottom of the page and see links for pages 2, 3, and 4; and all of a sudden you lose the urge to read the entire piece.

3) Easy reading level: The author obviously did not have an audience of his lawyer peers in mind when he wrote the article. It's easy to read and he gets right to the point, making the article suitable to pass along to others of all different education levels.

See A Fish With A Transparent Head

Today's Digg leader is a rather interesting article about a fish with a transparent head. Check out this crazy picture:

Here's why the article is popular:

1) It's unbelievable, but real: I'm not a zoologist, but I'd have to say there's probably not too many animals on the planet with transparent heads. Animal pictures generally work well on Digg, from dogs making funny faces to cats sleeping on top of each other; but showing people a creature they've never seen, or probably even thought of before, is sure to generate that "wow-I've-got-to-pass-this-on-to-others" factor.

2) Pictures: I can't stress this point enough: Digg loves pictures. It's so much easier to look at something than it is to read about something. And this article uses clear, semi-high-resolution images, as opposed to muddled, grainy, underwater-cam photos -- which certainly would not have not generated as much Digg-buzz as the post has now.

1,671 Diggs: Obama Shocked During A School Visit [PIC]

It appears I've unearthed a new Digg motif: pictures with Obama in them. Here's today's Digg leader, followed by why it works:

1) Obama-ism: I've covered this in the past and I'll probably cover it in the future: Pictures or web pages about Barack Obama work very nicely on Digg. Agree or disagree with his politics, you have to recognize the fact that much -- or at least some, particularly the demographic of Digg users -- of America views Obama as a veritable rock star.

2) News: I know -- it's a funny picture, not a news story. But have you ever seen Obama with that sort of expression on his face? From a guy that's generally one cool cat, this genuine look of fear/craziness is a brand new, unseen side of Obama, which is certainly news to most people.

3) It's a picture: It seems pictures get Dugg more than textual web pages do. Does that have something to do with the fact that web users have low attention spans and like to ascertain the overall message of a web page as quickly as possible? Here's a hint: Yes.

You'll find the original Digg page here.

1,672 Diggs: 65 Trillion - U.S. Debt Exceeds The GDP Of The Entire World

Today's Digg leader features neither comedy nor celebrities, and, quite frankly, I'm surprised at how many Diggs the page has received. It's a thoughtful blog post (from a blogger on blogspot.com, nonetheless) about the current economic crisis. Here's why it works:

1) News: People like to learn things, and, just like comedy, when someone learns something they like they'll want to pass it on to others. Even though the page is commentary and not a hard news story, it begins by informing the reader about a fact -- in this case, that the US government is 65 trillion in the hole; and, in addition, the author provides a link to the news story that substantiates his claim, which is a very important blogging practice.

2) Severity: News works -- but important news works even more. The story is about the fall of the United States due to the economic crisis: I think that's worth reading and Digging, don't you?

3) Easy to read: Almost every paragraph on the page consists of only one sentence. This makes the page easier to read and process, and it encourages readers to finish the story -- as opposed to long, convoluted paragraphs that most readers will skim and immediately forget.

The original Digg page is here.

8,717 Diggs: Hello .. Ladies of the Internet | Find the love of your life

The U.S. economy is crumbling, the job market is dreadful, and now more than 10% of Americans are part of the federal food assistance program; but today's Digg leader is proof that Americans are truly light-hearted people -- or, rather, proof that Digg users are predominantly affluent and don't care about economic news. Here it is:



Here's why this picture works (by the way, the entire page is actually just a JPEG file; so when I refer to it as a "picture" I'm referring to the entire content, not just the photo of the kid):

1) Comedy: It's a very funny picture on several levels (that is, if you're not the kid from the photo). Comedy is a great tool for getting Diggs because there's some mysterious part of the human psyche that just urges people to pass along a good joke when they hear or see one. Remember, a few years ago, the video of the monkey sticking his finger up his butt and then passing out after smelling it? I'll bet if you saw that you at least got one other person to watch it. I rest my case.

2) Believability: The picture's a fake, right? Or is it? That's certainly a photo of a real person at the bottom, so maybe the whole thing is indeed real. In either case, it adds a layer of excitement to the picture; and I'll bet it was one of the first thoughts that crossed your mind after you finished viewing it for the first time. If it totally crossed the line of believability the joke wouldn't work as well, and wouldn't have the Digg-status it currently has.

3) Audience: Remember, the Internet -- or at least Digg -- is dominated by nerdy white men, so if you're going to tell a joke, make sure that nerdy white men will understand it. This picture, with its references to Asian culture and video games, meets that requirement nicely.

You'll find the original Digg page here.

4,062 Diggs: Obama is Kind of A Hero (PIC)

One of the beautiful parts about Digg is the diversity of the content submitted: From thoughtful opinion pieces to hard-hitting news stories to stupid Photoshopped JPEGs, you'll find it all on Digg. Today's winner falls into the formerly-mentioned third category and comes in with a whopping 3,000-plus Diggs. Have a look:

That's right, no bookish insight on this one -- just a funny photo of President Obama throwing a shoe at former-President Bush. Here's why it works:

1) Left-wing politics/Bush-bashing: The Internet is not exactly a haunt for conservatives. While there are some popular right-wing websites, like Hot Air, Digg is certainly not one of them. Submitted content supporting Bush or John McCain (or any Republican, for that matter) probably won't make it too far; but submitted content supporting Obama -- that's a sure winner. For a country that's split pretty much 50/50 conservative/liberal, I don't exactly know why the most Digged stories tend to lean Left. Perhaps it's because Digg was founded in, and is still based out of, San Francisco, the modern-day Gomorrah in the eyes of the Biblically-inclined; perhaps it's because most web users tend to be young and most young people tend to be liberal; perhaps it's because there's a massive conspiracy to advance left-wing causes via the Internet. I don't know. But I do know if you want to succeed on Digg -- keep it liberal.

2) Comedy: Obviously, it's a funny picture; and, like all good comedy, it's funny whether you're conservative or liberal. (Note: if it's not funny to you -- lighten up.) Comedy works very well on Digg, because when people see something really funny they want to pass the word on.

3) Brevity: Obama throws shoe at President Bush: It only takes six words to fully explain the content and theme of the picture. Most web users don't have all day to sit around and analyze web content. Keep it pithy and your Diggs will rise.

You'll find the original Digg page here.

3,746 Diggs: Olympic gold medal winner Michael Phelps caught with bong

Digg's reigning champ today is a picture of Michael Phelps smoking marijuana from a bong, as reported by England's News of the World. Let’s analyze its most Digg-worthy elements:

1) Pictures: Remember, most people’s web attention spans are just shorter than a cat playing with a fake mouse toy. If you can’t grab their attention immediately, you’re probably not going to get their Digg. That’s why pictures are golden – especially juicy pictures of celebrities doing illegal activity. And the picture layout of the page is great: a small preview at the top of Phelps smoking the bong; followed by two pictures of Phelps in the capacity he’s known for, as a swimmer; ending with the large, unadultured image everyone wants to see at the bottom. It’s an easy, straight-forward flow for the eye to follow.

2) Celebrityism: I don’t understand it – and it’s certainly not my thing – but people love to read and gossip about celebrities. The celebrity, in this case, is Michael Phelps, a 14-time Olympic gold medal swimmer, and, some would argue, the greatest Olympian of all time. And he’s got a killer six-pack, so the chicks dig that; also, the chicks Digg that. Posting pictures of your friend Bob won’t get you Diggs; posting pictures of your celebrity friends will. So go get some celebrity friends.

3) Source (or, in this case, lack thereof): Have you ever read News of the World? Me neither. But fortunately for them, sources don’t matter to Digg. A great story is just as viable on nytimes.com as it is on angelfire.com/~joes_place/blog/. That’s great news if you’re an up-and-coming blogger; not-so-great news if you’re a media giant. But you’re not a media giant, are you?

Read the titular story here.