Right here’s a blast from the previous: Digg, one of many internet’s early information aggregators, is now again underneath the possession of its authentic founder Kevin Rose. Notably, he’s being joined as co-owner by Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian (each pictured above).
Digg and Reddit have been as soon as fierce rivals within the on-line social information aggregation house, launching inside a 12 months of one another some 20 years in the past. The 2 platforms loved related progress trajectories within the intervening years, going by numerous homeowners and spin-offs. However Reddit’s endurance was notable, and the corporate lastly went public final 12 months in a bumper IPO and its user-growth has continued trending upwards within the following months.
Digg, for its half, didn’t stand the check of time fairly so effectively. The corporate was break up into elements in 2012 and offered to incubator Betaworks, with LinkedIn and the Washington Publish buying a number of the property. Digg later raised a strategic spherical of funding from USA Right now proprietor Gannett, earlier than touchdown within the palms of digital promoting firm BuySellAds, which acquired a majority stake in 2018.
A ‘fresh vision’
Digg by no means soared to the identical heights as Reddit, which is why Rose and Ohanian have now joined forces to “revive” the platform with a “fresh vision to restore the spirit of discovery and genuine community that made the early web a fun and exciting place to be,” in line with a press launch issued in the present day.
Rose says he has been approached “at various times” by the years to purchase Digg, however he famous that it by no means felt like the suitable time.
So why now? It’s a mix of causes, in line with Rose, who says that the prevailing social media panorama has grow to be poisonous, messy, and riddled with misinformation — and AI is well-placed to handle that.
“Just recently we’ve hit an inflection point where AI can become a helpful co-pilot to users and moderators, not replacing human conversation, but rather augmenting it, allowing users to dig deeper, while at the same time removing a lot of the repetitive burden for community moderators,” Rose mentioned.
Ohanian, for his half, has dipped out and in of Reddit by the years. He first left the corporate in 2009 earlier than returning as its chairman in 2014 after which stepped down from the board altogether in 2020. Simply this week, Ohanian joined Frank McCourt’s bid to purchase TikTok’s U.S. enterprise.
“Online communities thrive when there’s a balance between technology and human judgment,” Ohanian mentioned. “We’re bringing Digg back to ensure that balance exists. Kevin and I are here to build something better than what social platforms are offering today. AI should handle the grunt work in the background while humans focus on what they do best: building real connections.”
Each Rose and Ohanian have invested in different firms by the years, each as people and thru institutional funds. This expertise has now intersected with True Ventures, which counts Rose as a associate, and Ohanian’s Seven Seven Six each investing in Digg.
Whereas Rose will function Digg’s chairperson and advisor, and Ohanian will sit on the board, the brand new incarnation might be led by CEO Justin Mezzell — a “longtime collaborator” of Kevin Rose and “seasoned product design leader,” in line with the press launch..
A brand new model of the Digg platform is touted for launch quickly. Invitations might be rolled out within the coming weeks.
