The Jeff Pulver Blog: twitter is Better than Digg

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April 17, 2007

twitter is Better than Digg

It dawned on me the other day that Twitter is a real-time high-tech news source that's faster than Digg at reporting the new big thing. A stream of alpha geeks connected and interacting through twitter is creating an even faster pointer to what's new and hot.

twitter reports on live happenings and events in a way that feels immediate. It points me to new technologies. Through twitter, I learned about Ustream.tv, and became aware of ComVu.

twitter feels like a global "hoot and holler" network, where anyone can ask a question and expect a response back from anyone else from anywhere in the world. Visiting Barcelona and need a place to get a suit or a nice restaurant for dinner? Just ask twitter.

Through the simplicity of a 140 character limit, plus access via SMS, the web, and several third party applications, could it be that twitter is now the de facto standard for "fast information?"

Tags: twitter, Digg, Jeff Pulver

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Posted by jeff on April 17, 2007 09:52 AM | Permalink

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Twitter is essentially un-flitered chat where digg is a social filtering system. Twitter is thus naturally better at "as-it-happens" events, but digg (at least in theory) is better for getting a sense of what is important to a community as a whole -- what you might think of the particular priorities of the digg community completely aside as I believe that's a whole different can of worms!

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Posted by: tibet tour at December 10, 2008 01:31 AM

Although I adore being down on Twitter Farm, I found out about the VT news the old-fashioned way: a phone call... with, of all things, a fellow Twitteree. Somewhat after the fact though as I was away from my computer, and I do not use any text features on my cell. I'm a way too easily distracted driver (they don't call me Spacey for nothin') to mess around in Atlanta's horrendous traffic with anything that tempts me to read/write text. Besides, I'm such a severe blog addict, I need the car/out of house time for a self-imposed break.

Posted by: SpaceyG at April 17, 2007 12:28 PM

The problem with DIGG is most users are kids. Twitter is nice because you hand pick who you want to hear from. Maybe a DIGG where you hand-pick the participants...

DIGG's quality standards are poor, and the discussions are juvinile and silly. I don't know how Kevin Rose gets all the attention. He's even been on the cover of People Magazine:

http://www.baytzim.com/digg/

Posted by: Robert at April 17, 2007 12:22 PM

Yeah, I think twitter is great if you need a response to something within 30-minutes or so, but the site in general has no "memory" or long-tail value.

Paging back through several pages of historical "twits" it too time consuming.

There are several features which Twitter should have implemented by now and any other service which would launch in the next month or two could easily create a massive shift of the twitter members.

Posted by: Michael Bailey at April 17, 2007 12:13 PM

Being better than Digg shouldn't be hard -- Digg seems tailor-made for popularity contests instead of legitimate news. (I am a Newsvine fan, though -- their breaking coverage of the Virginia Tech situation trumped all major news networks because one central Newsvine contributor happened to work in Blacksburg, VA, and could report live on events as they happened.)

Like Vergel, I found out about this post via Twitter as well.

Amusing comment left previously: "Blogs are for dissertations." Considering blogs are still bite-sized capsules of info, I think the Web 2.0 generation is becoming increasingly skewed on what actually constitutes a dissertation...

Posted by: Justin Kownacki at April 17, 2007 11:59 AM

While in some senses Digg is purer than Twitter if Tech news is what you're looking for, Twitter is better at spreading things on a personal level.

It's all about what Steve Garfield refers to as "subscribing to people."

Posted by: Kevin Kennedy-Spaien at April 17, 2007 11:51 AM

Bill Deys has it right -- not only is it faster than Digg, but it's more selective; you only see updates from people you are following.

I follow a few people who post more "general interest" tweets, but for the most part, most of the people I follow are tweeting about the things that interest me.

In fact, when I started following Twitter, the first feed that got removed from my newsreader was Digg...

Posted by: Chuck Lawson at April 17, 2007 11:34 AM

I hate Digg...I always have...I find it's interface and overall feel to be very clunky. And to get any of the information there, you have to go to the website..forget about Digging things...you have to log in and blah blah blah.

I think if people stopped seeing Twitter as an attention waster and more of a communication channel, I think indeed Twitter could be a primary information channel.

As for the 140 characters, I personally love it. It forces people to be consise and frugal with their words. Blogs are for dissertaions. Twitter is for communication and idea starters. Blogs are where we digest those tweets and expand them.

Just my opinion.

Thanks for asking the question.

Andy Bilodeau
andy.andycast.net

Posted by: AndyCast Andy at April 17, 2007 11:23 AM

I totally agree... while Digg is the watercolor site for tech people who need something in common. Twitter is a great site for staying in common with people who are your friends (digital and/or real)

The information shared on digg may not necessarily have any personal value to the viewer/reader. But the information shared via Twitter 9 times out of 10 is VERY relevent to the viewer/reader because it came directly from their pool of peers.

Twitter is what BBS and telnet chat rooms were in the early 90's. Small, personally relevant, and cherished... something that has long disappeared in our Internet.

BTW: I found out about this blog posting via a twitter from ChrisBrogan. funny isn't it....

Posted by: Vergel Evans at April 17, 2007 11:20 AM

Twitter is way better then Digg. It's far more instant and you have far more control on who you see updates from. With Digg you only get what the general user base wants you to see. There is also the issue of people paying to get digg's which will not happen in twitter. I also love the fact that it can be mobile through SMS, if they can ever get it working 99%!

Posted by: Bill Deys at April 17, 2007 11:16 AM

Jeff, although as a fellow Twitterer I tend to like what Twitter does better, this seems to be a bit of an apples and oranges thing. I think it's important to remember that these sites serve different purposes. Twitter is essentially un-flitered chat where digg is a social filtering system. Twitter is thus naturally better at "as-it-happens" events, but digg (at least in theory) is better for getting a sense of what is important to a community as a whole -- what you might think of the particular priorities of the digg community completely aside as I believe that's a whole different can of worms!

Posted by: Jay Moonah at April 17, 2007 11:16 AM

April 17, 2007

twitter is Better than Digg

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