5 ms·
When I see stories like this, I always wonder what happened internally at the company. When they launched the DiggBar, I'm sure most people at Digg thought it
by dcurtis 18y ago
When I see stories like this, I always wonder what happened internally at the company.
When they launched the DiggBar, I'm sure most people at Digg thought it was a good idea. But they must have had some reservations. They must have acknowledged the mere possibility that the DiggBar would incite the kind of anger and hatred that it did. So, from a business perspective, why did they launch it? They forever tarnished their brand for something that doesn't really seem to be worth it. It'd be interesting to know what happened in the meetings where they discussed this stuff.
Also, I wonder how long it took them to realize they were really upsetting a lot of people, and that they made a mistake. Were there phone calls? Yelling? Meetings?
I had the same questions about Facebook Beacon (but, unlike the DiggBar, I thought that was a good idea).
- stcredzero 18y agoMost likely, there were Marketdroids. The same people who would clutter up Microsoft's packaging until it looked like a marketing/buzzword junkyard. http://www.ipodobserver.com/story/25957 http://www.ipodobserver.com/story/25957 It's much the same phenomenon as groups jockeying for under-hood space in GM cars of the 50's. The more your group gets, the bigger its prestige. You get the Tragedy of the Commons, and the needs of the customer are lost in the process. In the case of gadgets, it's the buzzwords on the package/cool to implement features.
- Sawta 18y agoWhile your point is valid, doesn't digg only have something like 40 employee's? We're not exactly talking a Microsoft sized company structure here.
- stcredzero 18y ago40 is a large enough population for infection by marketdroids.
- ojbyrne 18y agoFacebook has had the same feature for a while, so it must have looked attractive and maybe even innocuous. But Facebook only has logged in users.
- lacker 18y agoI doubt Digg feels that they "forever tarnished their brand" or considers the DiggBar to have been a mistake. They're not even canceling the DiggBar! They're just restricting it to logged-in users. They probably think this is just a vocal minority who cares, the majority of users like it, and soon this fuss will blow over. Whether that is true or not, I don't know.
- ubernostrum 18y ago"They forever tarnished their brand for something that doesn't really seem to be worth it." Not to be unnecessarily snarky, but: I didn't know Digg had any brand left to tarnish.