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Digg

Digg is a user driven social content website. Everything on Digg is user-submitted. After you submit content, other people read your submission and “Digg” what they like best. If your story receives enough Diggs, it’s promoted to the front page for other visitors to see.

Kevin Rose came up with the idea for Digg in the fall of 2004. He found programmer Owen Byrne through eLance and paid him $10/hour to develop the idea. In addition, Rose paid $99 per month for hosting and $1,200 for the Digg.com domain. In December of 2004, Kevin launched his creation to the world through a post on his blog.

In February of 2005, Paris Hilton’s cell phone was hacked. Images and phone numbers from the phone were posted online and it didn’t take long for a user to post the link on Digg. The rapidshare downloads site started to receive an enormous amount of traffic and it was then, Rose says, he saw “the power of breaking stories before anyone else.”

Digg has been a force ever since. Acquisition offers have been made, Rose was on the cover of BusinessWeek and according to Alexa, Digg is in the top 100 most trafficked sites on the internet. The success hasn’t come without its share of problems though. The site has had to face services aimed at gaming the way stories hit the front page, as well as a user revolt. Digg has however been able to get over these hurdles as it continues to be one of the social news leaders.

Recent Milestones

• 
  Digg added Elad Gilo as NetSystem. (4/1/13)
  Posted 5/20/13 at 3:08am
• 
  Digg added Andrew McLaughlin as CEO. (2/1/13)
  Posted 5/21/13 at 12:54am
• 
  Digg — Digg Sold To LinkedIn AND The Washington Post And Betaworks (7/13/12)
  Posted 7/13/12 at 5:49pm via techcrunch.com
• 
  Digg was acquired by betaworks for $500k. (7/12/12)
  Posted 7/12/12 at 2:23pm via techcrunch.com
• 
  Digg added Baldvin Smarason as Software engineer & UIX designer. (1/4/12)
  Posted 4/17/12 at 9:29pm
• 
  Digg received $5M in Series D funding. (7/12/11)
  Posted 7/12/11 at 1:40pm via techcrunch.com
• 
  Digg added Bennett Thuener as CFO. (7/1/11)
  Posted 7/21/11 at 6:21pm
• 
  Digg — Another Digg Exec Is Out: Longtime CFO John Moffett Leaves (10/25/10)
  Posted 10/27/10 at 3:25am via techcrunch.com
• 
  Digg added Matt Williams as CEO. (8/31/10)
  Posted 8/31/10 at 8:49am
• 
  Digg added Vipul Sharma as Software Engineer. (5/24/10)
  Posted 5/11/10 at 1:11pm
• 
  Digg added Dash Gopinath as Head of Consumer Product. (4/1/10)
  Posted 3/17/13 at 4:35am
• 
  Digg added Marshall Clark as Head of Search & User Analytics. (4/1/10)
  Posted 6/18/10 at 9:05am
• 
  Digg added Jamie Lottering as UI Developer. (3/19/10)
  Posted 4/24/10 at 6:02pm
• 
  Digg added Veronica Tegen as Director of Ad Ops. (1/1/10)
  Posted 7/13/12 at 11:32am
• 
  Digg added Michele Husak as Director of PR. (12/1/09)
  Posted 1/11/10 at 5:13pm
• 
  Digg added Keval Desai as VP of Product. (11/1/09)
  Posted 1/20/10 at 5:02pm

Videos

Screenshots

Above: Digg Screenshot -- #1
Uploaded: 7/12/12

Products

Digg

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Website	digg.com
Blog	blog.digg.com
Stage	Live
Launch Date	November 1, 2004
Tags	news, social, community

Digg delivers the most interesting and talked about stories on the Internet right now. The Internet is full of great stories, and Digg helps you find, read, and share the very best ones. It’s simple and it’s everywhere: visit Digg on the web, find it on your iPhone, or get the best of Digg delivered to your inbox with The Daily Digg.

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Sources

1. Betaworks Acquires Digg (TechCrunch) (techcrunch.com) []
2. Citation Needed []
3. goliath.ecnext.com []
4. marketingvox.com []
5. press release (techcrunch.com) []
6. Digg Raises An Inside Venture Round (techcrunch.com) []
Another Digg Exec Is Out: Longtime CFO John Moffett Leaves (techcrunch.com) []
Digg Sold To LinkedIn AND The Washington Post And Betaworks (techcrunch.com) []