July 10, 2006
Digg the Show
I have been listening to Diggnation, a popular vodcast and podcast hosted by Kevin Rose and Alex Albrecht, for quite a while now. That is why Seth Godin’s post, “What should Digg do?”caught my attention. Seth’s post offers some suggestions on how Digg could further monetize the site. I think his suggestions are good for another site similar in design, but maybe not right for Digg.com.
Digg.com is a social news service site that allows users to submit articles, which generally have a technology flair, and then invites everyone to “digg it” or vote on these articles. The articles that receive the most votes are then discussed by Kevin and Alex on Diggnation. Diggnation is a fun show primarily because of the host’s personalities, but also because of the laid back delivery of the content, which is always done over different beers from around the world. It is also valuable because it keeps listeners and viewers apprised of news related to technology, as well as the perspectives of those that have been in the space for quite some time. The site and the vod-podcast are connected, and yet, they are separate.
What you might notice upon visiting Digg.com is that there is no obvious link to Diggnation. Kevin and Alex are hardly promoting the show. It used to be at the top, but they have since relegated the link to the very bottom of the page. Is this because they do not want to practice self-promotion, or is it because they have a very firm understanding of their audience, its sensibilities, and sensitivities? I’m not quite sure. I’m kind of a pseudo geek.
But what I do know is that Diggnation is very popular. Last time I checked they had more than 150,000 subscribers and growing. So much in fact that my company, Twelve Horses, approached the Digg guys and asked them if they would be interested in doing a live recording in the Reno-Tahoe area. They said, Yes. It turned into an awesome party with more than 200 people coming as far as Canada and the East Coast to enjoy a weekend of podcasting, partying, skiing and snowboarding.
Twelve Horses added some sms text messaging, email marketing, and landing page and website design to connect all the dots and successfully carry out the event, but the main buzz obviously came out of the show itself. Kevin and Alex spoke of the live recording and weekend partying over the course of several shows and directed it to a target audience of more than 150,000 loyal listeners. The exposure for the Reno-Tahoe area was credible and undeniably valuable. There were also some other sponsors that gave away all expense trips to come join Diggnation in Reno-Tahoe. They received exposure on the show, the website, and at the actual event.
I think there is a lot more potential for attracting advertisers to the show. Picking great locations to do live recordings and delivering applicable content. Digg can grow into different social news, product and service sites, but I guess it all comes down to what they really want and like to do.
Technorati : digg, diggnation, podcasting, social news, vodcasting
Posted in Uncategorized
