Comments on: How $2.8M Cost Kevin Rose His $60M

By: Wild Bluff Matt

Wild Bluff Matt — Tue, 27 Feb 2007 20:21:45 +0000

$60M?? Lot to be said for going some things alone and not having investors calling shots or holding you back.

By: Muhammad Saleem

Muhammad Saleem — Wed, 22 Nov 2006 03:04:25 +0000

You have raised some very interesting points. It would have been great to see the reaction of the Digg community (which is the reason for whatever speculative monetary value we associate with Digg today) as well as the founders of Digg.

Too bad Digg buried the story.

By: Steve

Steve — Tue, 21 Nov 2006 18:59:52 +0000

Jason,

You raise a very interesting point.

Because sites such as Digg are a “transport system” to get people to websites rather than being a destination in and of itself how can you profit off of it?

A dedicated news site or blog *is* a destination. Once the person is done reading the news item or blog entry where do they go? If the advertising on the site is in line with what the reader has just read then you have a good chance they will leave via an advertising link.

Unlike Digg, where a user is far more likely to leave via a story link than an advertising link.

You may be able to make good money with a site such as Digg using a CPI formula but what advertiser is willing to spend money on adv impressions that never get clicked on? CPI is good for web publishers but CPC is best for web advertisers.

The anchors on Netscape is a move in the right direction. It’s good to know there is someone you can talk to if you feel wronged. With Digg, a story can be buried and you will never know why.

A Social News site may have to go the route of partnerships with other major media web companies to make money. This could be done by offering a special “three entry” box at the top of each section for “sponsor news stories.” I know there was some discussion about this when Netscape brought up the idea of editorial anchors being involved, but that was more conspiratorial in nature.

I hesitate to talk too much about this as it could quickly lead to a user backlash as many who use such sites have unrealistic dreams of democracy in their heads in regards to story promotions.

By: Jason

Jason — Tue, 21 Nov 2006 18:40:21 +0000

The real problem with a site like digg is that the page views are high, but the advertising value is lower than a normal page because the advertisers have to compete with REALLY, REALLY, REALLY GREAT CONTENT.

The stories on on the home page are so great that very view advertisers will be able to compete with them for a click. Also, the tech audience tunes out (and in some cases blocks) advertising more than others… so, I’d expect half the amount of clickthroughs (or less) from that audience on average.

That’s the real issue in all of this… making this amazing products into an advertising business. The person who cracks that first will be the real winner.