DISQUS

Ryan Holiday · 2 years ago

I think you're very right Scott, and anyone who has spent time on Digg knows how easy it is to suddenly fall under the impression that Ubuntu is a pressing concern of the public.

I'm not sure what your point is though. Yes, Digg is controlled by an elite few (although I can tell you it is very easy to crack that and become one). So is the mainstream media. Didn't we already know this?

Howard Weaver · 2 years ago

Agreed entirely, though you may not have been precise in your phrasing.

While Digg and Reddit do indeed reflect “the interests of their entire user base,” they do not reflect “the entire interests of their user base.”

Eric · 2 years ago

As I said on Reddit today about this story... analyzing the stories on the front page misses the real point about these sites. I spend far more time on Reddit (and Slashdot) reading the *comments* than I do any of the stories that get linked to. (Not so much Digg, where the comment threads seem dominated by 14 year olds). But at least on Reddit and Slashdot, the community is composed of enough knowldgeable, intelligent people that an interesting discussion emerges from almost any topic - even a picture of a stupid cat.

It's the comment threads that you find the real news of the day, context, and good information, not the front page stories.

Steve Boriss · 2 years ago

While I agree that it is possible that the views of the small subsample voting at Digg and Reddit are not representative of all readers, I do not see anything in the article that suggests that the story selections of mainstream editors are. In fact, why would we expect them to be when the journalism culture often expresses deisdain for "pandering" to consumer tastes. Actually, the examples cited of what Digg and Reddit users prefer seem very reasonable -- more stories that affect individuals most (domestic stories over international) and greater diversity. See my post "How can Old Media journalists call themselves “professionals” while being almost completely wrong about what their readers want? Study reveals an astonishing disconnect" at TheFutureOfNews.com.

PDR · 2 years ago

It would be interesting to see the change in focus on social news sites if the mainstream media channels vanished into the ether. Surely the average news consumer finds their appetite for "mainstream" stories thoroughly sated, hence the migration to niche aggregators. I suggest there would be far more diversity, and far more ranting, if this were the only ballgame.

berny · 2 years ago

I think the study also fails to underline that actually today we have an increasing complementarity of news sources, that people can (and do) check the news throughout their days, both online and offline -- and so there is a on-going integration of traditional and niche media sites, which seems much more important than their even too obvious differences.

Olivia Ma · 2 years ago

The PEJ's conclusion that: "online users gravitated toward different topics than those from traditional news outlets," seems a bit obvious to me. The "social news sites" are more than likely only a piece of most users' every day news consumption. I don't think that digg, reddit, or del.icio.us really and truly replace the mainstream media brands (NYTimes, Washington Post, WSJ, CNN) in providing the news "of record." Despite their flaws and perhaps occasional biases, these media brands are established and trusted for a reason -- and when you really want to get a sense of what's going on in the world, most people are probably going to check out one of the above mentioned mainstream media outlets. However, the MSM often does not have the most fun, quirky, interesting, useful stories -- the kind of stories you're inclined to pro-actively share with your friends. That's what social news sites are about -- those articles and blog posts that you want more people to see than otherwise would.

So, doesn't it make sense that there wouldn't be a ton of overlap between social media sources and mainstream media sources? I go to reddit and digg to see what's considered "hot" at the moment by my peers, not to see what's happening in politics or the economy. I find that the beauty of social recommendation is serendipitous discovery.

paul burt · 2 years ago

I think it would behoove you all to read the thoughtful analysis by reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian

http://reddit.blogspot.com/2007/09/project-for-...

http://reddit.blogspot.com/2007/09/pej-study-ev...

online market research company · 2 years ago

What digg, reddit and delicious did - is allowed second voice to be heard .. i.e. from the day one media was dominated by right wingers or people with various prejudice and now we have tool to counter them