Digg, the online community platform originally launched in the Web 2.0 era, released its open beta to the public Wednesday, marking a renewed effort to compete with Reddit. The rebooted platform, now under the ownership of original founder Kevin Rose and Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian, offers a website and mobile app where users can browse, post, comment, and upvote content within various communities.
The new Digg mirrors Reddit's functionality, allowing users to join communities aligned with their interests and engage with content through posting and voting, a feature the platform calls "digging." This launch represents a significant step for Digg, which was once valued at $175 million in 2008 but later faced challenges and was divided in 2012.
"We're excited to bring Digg back to its roots as a community-driven platform for discovering and discussing interesting content," said Kevin Rose in a statement released Wednesday. "Our goal is to create a space where users can connect with others who share their passions and interests."
The original Digg, a news aggregation site, was ultimately outpaced by Reddit, which has since grown into a major online community and publicly traded company. In 2012, Digg's largest stake was sold to the incubator Betaworks, while LinkedIn and The Washington Post acquired other parts of the company. An additional investment was made in 2016, but Digg was later sold to a digital advertising company in 2018.
Reddit has continued to expand, generating revenue through content licensing agreements with AI companies, including Google. The relaunch of Digg introduces a new competitor in the online community space, potentially impacting how users discover and share information online. The success of the new Digg will depend on its ability to attract and retain users in a market dominated by established platforms like Reddit.
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