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.