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"Netscape Could Beat Digg By Focusing on Average People"

publishing2.com — "If Netscape really wants to beat Digg, it should leverage the advantage it already appears to have — by comparison, Netscape isn’t littered with as many “weird” stories. It’s already acting more like a news site that the average person could more easily transition to." Scott Karp says "Steve Job’s trampoline" story is weird.

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  • dirtyfratboy, on 10/12/2007, -2/+102Not trying to go after Mr. Karp, but he's got it wrong.
    The "weird" stories that Digg features may not have a thing to do with the state of the world, but they're interesting. If I just wanted world/breaking news, then I would have no reason to visit Digg. Reuters, AP, etc. cover that stuff. The "average" people already are bombarded by news outlets. I'm actually beginning to see Digg as a kind of refuge where I can hunker down and get my tech news, interesting tidbits, and maybe some *key* reports on the state of the world.
    • p9s50W5k4GUD2c6, on 10/12/2007, -2/+67This asshat has been taking swipes at Digg for some time.

      Karp's diatribe is nothing but weak & transparent envy. Virtually every major publication features offbeat news. I think it's a great category. But to classify all (or even the majority) of Digg stories to be weird is to be wantonly out of touch with reality.

      This piece of work is ~deliberately~ trying to get traction off an hybrid mix of story genres that are all rolled up into a major category that includes both serious AND offbeat news. Did this gentleman have the journalistic integrity to mention this?

      The truth is: Netscape couldn't beat Digg with PAID people. Oh yeah - they already proposed that yesterday.
    • titlesaysitall, on 10/12/2007, -3/+21I come to Digg for the sole purpose of finding those so called "wierd stories", I still remember when dirtyfratboy submitted the story of how that teen blew up his house with deodorant and laundry on an electric cooker, priceless but of course its too wierd so i'm off my rocker. Even the "Don't send me Word documents" on the front page today was funny but still to wierd for this idiot in the article. But according to him I am probably as wierd as it gets and should be treated immediately.
    • kisskissbang, on 10/12/2007, -47/+5Hahahhaha! Fanboyism is gonna kill Digg. All you ***** digging ***** like, "Wii to guide future ICBMs" and "Sony rapes orphanage" will end up ***** yourselves in the ass in the end.
    • incubusnb, on 10/12/2007, -0/+11One thing I don't quite think the author of TFA understands is that Digg is community driven, Users submit stories, and Users decide if its front page material. The Users of Digg want to read these stories, and considering how Digg is one of the largest and fastest growing sites on the web, I'd say that accounts for a pretty large sector of the world.
    • Kilroy2004, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4It's amazing the number of "interesting" sites you get from Digg. I've already expanded my repertoire of sites to include these in just the past couple of days:

      http://www.joesgoals.com/
      http://www.hassleme.co.uk/

      and the list continues!
    • cwl157, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1i completly agree. If you want real world event news go to cnn digg is all about the "not your everyday news story" news
    • Popdmb, on 10/12/2007, -6/+3@kevinrose

      This guy takes shots at Digg every chance he gets. Did you steal his lunch money in high school?
    • Charlotte_Web, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2I would say that Netscape and Newsvine already blow away Digg in terms of "spit and polish". Plus, they appeal to a broader audience. Digg is mainly a young, libertarian, tech-oriented crowd. Netscape and Newsvine seem to have much more well-rounded coverage and discussion.
    • joelhardi, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6News for nerds. Stuff that matters.

      Oops, wrong site. But point still applies. I could care less how well or badly Netscape does as long as Digg doesn't turn to crap.
    • mckirkus, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Here's why you're only kind of right. Democratic news also gives bloggers who write about non-weird stories a voice. I just want the best articles, I don't care if they're written by the AP, NYTimes, or some brilliant blogger. The difference is that the traditional news outlets are limited because they aren't allowing the voices of the people to compete with those of their employees.
  • flash200, on 10/12/2007, -1/+27This translates as: "Netscape could beat Digg by not having a target audience". Sounds like a winning business plan. Sign me up!

    /sarcasm
    • MicroBerto, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Exactly. Digg is successful because it's amazing niche marketing. Now it can spread out. Netscape has NEVER known niche marketing.

      Read Crossing the Chasm and you'll be enlightened. Digg is doing extremely well.
  • Threnody, on 10/12/2007, -0/+11Hey man I stand by that trampoline story wholeheartedly!
  • AKBryant54, on 10/12/2007, -3/+7i declare bs.
    and..
    SHENANIGANS!!
    everyone grab your brooms!
  • whoatemydigg, on 10/12/2007, -0/+13I think the problem for Netscape is they just dont get it. They dont understand the social bookmarking culture. All they see is money and all theyre interested in is making money.
  • goodscottyds, on 10/12/2007, -7/+0In related news, the ***** at PCWorld are saying that reddit.com will be more popular than digg rather soon. I guess that they haven't checked Alexa lately.
    • armbar, on 10/12/2007, -0/+10Alexa is a wildly inaccurate measuring tool.
    • tech10171968, on 10/12/2007, -1/+0armbar: "Alexa is a wildly inaccurate measuring tool"

      In addition, it also gets reported by Adaware and others as major spyware.
  • opie_wan, on 10/12/2007, -1/+12digg started as sub-culture and will always have roots there, Netscape is just AOL trying to be cool....it will never happen...people like digg because of the fact that we all like the human aspect of it.....i can visit google news.....which has no humans behind its postings.....if i want a view of what the major media has to say....the trampoline would have never made it to the front page of google news.....hmmm.....
  • mecole21, on 10/12/2007, -4/+3Stupid Netscape, when are you gonna stop being AOL's bitch...
    • Atomic1fire, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3firefox is what netscape used to be
      cool
      digg is what netscape is trying to be
      cool
      besides the political arguements digg is great for tech news and finding new and interesting thing
    • Atomic1fire, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1interesting things i ment
  • aniruddha23, on 10/12/2007, -15/+4Netscape = Corporate Scum
    Digg = Free World

    Netscape = Wannabe
    Digg = The Pioneer

    Netscape = Clueless Twits
    Digg = Knows what crowd its catering to.
  • Topher06, on 10/12/2007, -1/+7Isn't Netscape a browser, and who uses it anymore? I won't use anything with the Netscape brand as I haven't for over 10 years.
    • deanlowe, on 10/12/2007, -1/+11Netscape ceased being Netscape as soon as Marc Andreessen left.
    • akhomerun, on 10/12/2007, -5/+5do you use firefox?

      then you are basically using netscape. firefox as you know it is a fork of the mozilla application suite, which was completely based off netscape communicator.

      so really, only 10% of the internet uses netscape derived software.

      read up! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mozilla_Application_Suite

      Oh yeah, and Netscape 8 is actually a firefox clone. So now they ARE the same.
    • ImpactedColon, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2"do you use firefox? then you are basically using netscape."

      No, not really. They're both based on Mozilla, but Netscape itself had the unique property that every version of the browser after 4.7 was less stable. Any software that gets worse with revision will die. Firefox is the exact opposite. Since it's open source, it gets better, and gets better FAST.
    • deanlowe, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2If the Netscape browser was the same as FireFox then it would have more than the less than 1% market share

      Let's face it AOL ***** Netscape up like they ***** everything up. Time/Warner is still paying for the merger.
  • wvdavis, on 10/12/2007, -1/+9Average people have a need to share, express their opinions and insult others too.
  • techpimp, on 10/12/2007, -4/+7Good, I don't want Netscape's users using Digg. Keep the n00bs off this site!
  • Zippo, on 10/12/2007, -2/+4Who cares. Everyone knows the geek is mightier than the average man.
    MySpace is more popular than a lot of other social networking sites... and we all know how good MySpace is.
  • danlovejoy, on 10/12/2007, -3/+20Is any criticism of Digg ever, ever warranted? I ask seriously, because you guys get very angry and quickly bury negative comments that are actually about Digg. Will geek groupthink sink Digg?

    For example, here are some real criticisms that aren't hateful, aren't FUD, and are constructive, I think:
    1.) We don't need a front page story every time Eric Schmidt goes to the bathroom.
    2.) Ditto with Steve Jobs
    3.) Reading Digg, one would assume that Apple has 85% market share in PCs and that the iPod was the only entertainment option available to humankind. (I own a Mac AND an iPod, and I LOVE them)
    4.) The Google thing again. I don't get the adulation. Seriously.

    Having written all that, I think reading Digg makes me smarter and more capable. Reading Slashdot makes me stupider. I've learned a lot on Digg, and I really like it. But it's not perfect, and there's nothing wrong with saying that.
    • dawgma, on 10/12/2007, -1/+6Give it time. Digg only recenlty moved away from only being technology related. It will take a little while for power users from other categories to spring up, and hopfully then they will dilute some of the heavily wieghted bias around here.
    • r00t3d0ut, on 10/12/2007, -3/+4I agree with the fact of digg "making one smarter" but I disagree regarding the digg "groupthink". I think what digg suffers from is having a majority of users with higher-than-average IQ's who happen to be very passionate about what they feel should be dugg. I don't think Netscape could take digg down by ascribing to 'regular people' because, let's face it, most people find news boring whereas the average digg user arrives on this site to do just that: find breaking news.

      Yes, digg is not perfect but it's a damn good start and I find myself visiting digg several times throughout the day because there's always something new to learn.

      So what if Netscape becomes more popular than digg; I don't think that digg users will lose sleep because people are surfing to other pages on the net. Let's face it: digg existed before the hype and they [we] will exist after...
    • dakkon2399, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4Aren't such things really a critique of digg users and not a critique of digg itself? You only get this weighted bias due to the current user base (not that I would say this bias is necessarily good or bad). As Dawgma states, give it time. As the user base evolves you will see a more mainstream saturation of articles. Since I'm a hardcore techie, I love all the tech articles (but to each their own:).
    • lonekorean, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5Yeah, a lot of the stories here are kind of... Who cares? And sometimes the fanboy-ism gets on my nerves. But it's all short attention span theatre, with the occasional gem, which is good when you're trolling at work.
    • danlovejoy, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1dakkon2399 wrote "Aren't such things really a critique of digg users and not a critique of digg itself?"

      Well, yes. But what is Digg without its users? If someone blatantly ripped off Digg's functionality*, he still doesn't have Digg. He has, well, Netscape.

      But the technology does pose some challenges outside of the community's myopia. The question is, does Digg's technology enable more or fewer useful memes to percolate to the top of info space? Does the technology itself encourage groupthink or healthful diversity? Does reading about Steve Jobs' trampoline make users stupider or smarter?

      I don't really know the answer (not even about the trampoline) - I suspect the technology enables both good and bad info to percolate to the top. And "good info" is certainly a subjective judgment. The challenge is to build the tools that encourage diversity of thought, encourage good posts, and motivate users to return. Digg does a pretty darn good job of that. But they can always get better.
  • mikejohnston, on 10/12/2007, -3/+5Netscape = AOL = Obsolete = Sad

    Remember when AOL purchased Netscape (maybe you don't but I'm an old fart)? I have never understood for the life of me WHY they NEVER dropped IE as thier primary browser for the AOL system and used their own browser. Contract with Microsoft or not, this was just one of the dumbest business moves in the world to me. An indicator that clearly AOL has no concept of how to be succesful at any of these "me too" enterprises.
  • caldroun, on 10/12/2007, -0/+9Wait! Netscape? We are not done with the Slashdot v. Digg yet.

    jeez...who cares.
  • OsakaWilson, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4Just one visit to Netscape and you can see how much better digg is. Do not underestimate the ability of the general population to choose crap, however. Examples are too numerous to need mention.
    • choice, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5I'll mention two: US Presidential election 2000. US Presidential election 2004.
    • author20, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1AOL and Netscape -- for example. AOL is the worse thing to every hit the Internet, consumers, American business and the media.

      AOL is a rogue company with software that acts like a virus. I can't erase it from this brand new PC -- but the fact is -- instead of just avoiding AOL I am avoiding all people who have aol email addresses.

      Be warned -- I am not going to respond to AOL email addresses, Netscape addresses or any sister company. Bye AOL. Die. We'll see how long mainstream sticks with AOL when tech professionals stop communicating with them. They hate on nurds, but they can't live without us. Nor can AOL.. So, that is why they are dying. Die AOL. Die.
  • DrSkrud, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1I kind of like the Digg niche. I think it serves a completely different community than the one Netscape seems to want to attract. While Netscape is focusing on "Average People", I'm sure Digg will continue to cater to Diggers -- a not-exactly-"Average" group.
  • jbus, on 10/12/2007, -0/+7One issue with digg that may hurt it with "average people" is that it defaults to Technology News and doesn't offer a way to set "All News" as the default. I don't know how Netscape works because I haven't tried it, but I'm going to assume it lets its users decide if they want to view all news stories by default.
    • OsakaWilson, on 10/12/2007, -1/+6Absolutely. We should at least be able to set it for View All.
    • Smoktiludy, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Change your digg bookmark to this:

      http://digg.com/view/all

      Look, no more default option needed.
    • jbus, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1@ Smoktiludy

      Gee thanks... None of us knew that was possible.

      Sorry for being sarcastic, but just because we can bookmark the "view all" page isn't really isn't an excuse for digg not offering this option. Even if they are ashamed of the non-tech articles that are being posted on digg and want to hide them from new/casual digg visitors, they should still allow users that want to view all stories by default the option of doing so.
  • JoeyDeacon, on 10/12/2007, -2/+12I like the fact that I can use the word "asshat" here
  • aniruddha23, on 10/12/2007, -8/+0whoever keeps greenlighting these "this site trying to be digg" stories to the front page needs to be fired.
  • managizzle, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1It's a poorly written article with weak arguments on an amaturish-looking blog.
  • NSMike, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2Um... Sorry, but Netscape will never "beat" Digg. They're for two totally seperate audiences.

    Maybe they might end up nabbing more TRAFFIC (doubtful), but Digg offers me the content I'm looking for. Netscape is trying to appeal to the masses, but Digg appeals to ME. That's why I come here. That's why a lot of people come here. That's why Netscape can't "beat" Digg.
  • memebag, on 10/12/2007, -0/+8Netscape has a website?
    • mikejohnston, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Funny. Isn't that the place you go to look at how-to's on JS 1.0? LOL
  • macross9321, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2they can have all the average people - as long as the Uber Geeks stay here I'll be happy
  • lonekorean, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2I really don't see what the debate is. There's plenty of room for many user-powered news collaboration sites (or whatever you want to call them) on the internet. The article almost implies that There Can Be Only One, which is absurd.

    OK, so Netscape may have a slightly different target audience than Digg... Hooray?
  • killa2, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Who cares... Netscape will have it's users, looking for "normal" news. Most of us and probably tons of more over time will continue to use Digg anyway. We get news plus all kinds of interesting stories regular newspapers will never put online.
  • circeus, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Because Netscape's strategies have worked so well in the past? /me rollseyes
  • digitallysick, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Netscape is owened by AOL , so it can never be for NORMAL people
  • manualGirl, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2who cares about average people anyway?
  • xutopia, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2So what if Netscape uses the same type of system as Digg uses? It works. Imagine if people were told they weren't allowed to use spreadsheets because someone else had done it first or same pattern applied to the wheel! Get over it! Digg is a great tool and the user driven content approach is gaining!
  • BufordT, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2The trampoline story was one of those articles I actually read in its entirety. The fact that us geeks on Digg find an article like this interesting and worthy of the front page is a compliment (and probably keeps average people away from this site, which is a good thing). I remember when I first started browsing Digg, and saw the headline "WRT54G V5 Hackable!!!!" Seeing a headline like this on the front page makes a geek feel at home.
  • dmron, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Totally radical the maximum. Now that digg has "clobbered" slashdot and comparisons to it are no longer needed (***** it's been like at least a month since I've seen a digg vs slashdot article), we now must move on and wage war against another site. Granted, netscape is a ripoff of digg in a lot of ways, BUT STILL.... there are a LOT MORE interesting things to talk about and read about than Digg vs X. COME ON PEOPLE...
  • scott1, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Here's a link to what they mean by the average person.
    http://publishing2.com/category/average-people/
  • guntherjs, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1so to have a successful new type of news site we need look back to what we already have with old news sites and do that?
  • DBOi, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1i'll always be a digg fan, this is the only site i can on and read news for hours and hours and not be wondering why i'm reading instead of playing video games
  • kuyakew, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1with the over-abundance of tech stories (linux this, open-source that, mods)... i wouldnt be surprised that that would discourage some people from visiting digg regularly.

    lets face it, the majority of the world doesnt care about that stuff. only a reletivaly small but very active group does.

    im glad kevin and the bunch are trying to expand into other catagories (video, entertainment) besides geekdom.

    • drchadwick, on 10/12/2007, -1/+0wait, what about the new "ubuntu distro" -- whatever the hell that is.
  • DaffyDuck, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2Congratulations to dirtyfratboy on his new source of income. :)
  • glaz, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Hm it's an interesting idea in theory. Perhaps the most obvious problem is that so-called "average" people probably won't spend their time blogging news stories, regardless of their content. It's really a niche market although quite a large one in this day and age.
  • stewwebdev, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3Netscape is very serious (sarcasm=true)

    Here are some real headlines from Netscape from this morning.

    Eddie Murphy and Scary Spice, To Be Married?

    Oprah Winfrey Proclaims She's Not Gay

    The 111 Wussiest Songs of All Time

    Justin Disses, Defends Britney

    Thanks goodness they don't have any wierd news stories on their site!
  • SpookyET, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2If you want news, go to http://www.newsvine.com
  • scottkarp, on 10/12/2007, -2/+1dirtyfratboy, I have only one question -- are you going to take Calacanis up on his offer?
  • ne0shell, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2Welcome to another attack on alternate media. So Digg should join the traditional media which is bleeding users / viewers / listeners like a sieve? No thanks. I for one am glad that Digg allows the users to determine the importance of the stories, just because something is in the NY Times doesn't make it more reliable or more important. The Bush administration has spent billions to plant fake news all over the "traditional media" as well as campaigning against alternatives. Please explain to me how luring away the "power users" would help Netscape? Or is the idea to bury alternative, user driven sources of information?
    • danlovejoy, on 10/12/2007, -2/+1Do you seriously think planting stories is limited to the traditional media? Do you seriously think this behavior is limited to Republicans?

      I've got this bridge - it's a GREAT price.
  • obeattie, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1Everyone knows Digg caters to a niche market of people who are interested in "wierd" stories. Anyway - if you thought it was so wierd go and post this on Netscape!!

    Also, F.Y.I - check out the new categories.
  • charbarred, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1The thing is, Digg is not doing so good with the entertainment. When V3 came out it seemed like we're going to get some different stuff on the front page. After a couple of weeks it reverted to only showing RIAA related stories when it comes to music, and stories about comic book adaptations when films are concerned. Look at the entertainment section on digg, there are tons of really interesting stories that no one appreciates around here. Netscape can take a large bite out of that, but then again, when it comes to serious music or movies, neither digg or netscape have anything to offer.
  • Jeppy, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1I'm sorry but I could never switch over to a copy cat. Netscape is not doing anything original by taking the work someone else did. Digg is the most original site in the world. User submitted stories and you get vote what what makes the front page or even what is news worthy. Digg to me is a really killer site that will be around for a long time. Not to mention the weekly Diggnation podcast....That is so super original. Netscape will never be able to come close or even stomp out digg.com
  • voipdude, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I think the wild selection of stories on Digg is waht digg is all about!
  • eoliveri, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Don't you just love it when self-proclaimed pundits want to tell you what the "average person" wants?
  • theprizefight, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1digg down
  • Crypty, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Well if by "beat" you mean get more popular.... It may have done that already. I see stories on there with upwards of 1000 comments. I'm still sticking with digg for the more involved tech news. Netscape is poorly designed.
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