Right here’s a blast from the previous: Digg, one of many internet’s early information aggregators, is now again beneath the possession of its unique founder Kevin Rose. Notably, he’s being joined as co-owner by Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian (each pictured above).
Digg and Reddit had been as soon as fierce rivals within the on-line social information aggregation house, launching inside a 12 months of one another some twenty years in the past. The 2 platforms loved comparable progress trajectories within the intervening years, going by varied house owners 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 split into parts in 2012 and bought to incubator Betaworks, with LinkedIn and the Washington Put up buying among the property. Digg later raised a strategic round of funding from USA As we speak proprietor Gannett, earlier than landing in the hands of digital advertising company BuySellAds, which acquired a majority stake in 2018.
A ‘contemporary imaginative and prescient’
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 “contemporary imaginative and prescient to revive the spirit of discovery and real neighborhood that made the early internet a enjoyable and thrilling place to be,” in line with a press release issued immediately.
Rose says he has been approached “at varied occasions” by the years to purchase Digg, however he famous that it by no means felt like the correct time.
So why now? It’s a mixture of causes, in line with Rose, who says that the present social media panorama has turn into poisonous, messy, and riddled with misinformation — and AI is well-placed to handle that.
“Only in the near past we’ve hit an inflection level the place AI can turn into a useful co-pilot to customers and moderators, not changing human dialog, however somewhat augmenting it, permitting customers to dig deeper, whereas on the similar time eradicating lots of the repetitive burden for neighborhood moderators,” Rose stated.
Ohanian, for his half, has dipped out and in of Reddit by the years. He first left the company 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.
“On-line communities thrive when there’s a stability between expertise and human judgment,” Ohanian stated. “We’re bringing Digg again to make sure that stability exists. Kevin and I are right here to construct one thing higher than what social platforms are providing immediately. AI ought to deal with the grunt work within the background whereas people give attention to what they do finest: constructing actual 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 companion, 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 can be led by CEO Justin Mezzell — a “longtime collaborator” of Kevin Rose and “seasoned product design chief,” in line with the press launch..
A brand new model of the Digg platform is touted for launch quickly. Invitations can be rolled out within the coming weeks.
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