Whether you want to call it Digg-Gate or the Digg-pocalypse, it doesn't change the fact that Digg is still under heavy fire as more and more users continue their furious backlash against the social news site's overhaul late last week.
But before we start declaring this the end of Digg, keep in mind it's not the first site to deal with angry users. Facebook faces backlash with every change they make, yet their user base continues to grow. Think about it, have any of your Facebook-hating friends followed through on their threats and actually quit Facebook?
And while I'm definitely happy that I'm not the one who has to fix this Digg dilemma, there is a lesson to be learned here. Any website that goes under a visual redesign is bound to have a few dissenters. People can be fickle, and may not like a site that they've been using to go under any changes.
But Digg's changes went deeper than that, with a complete change in focus and strategy. Digg re-purposed itself to appeal to a more mainstream demographic. In doing so, they've alienated a large portion of their existing audience.
However, Digg may have to accept the fact that at this stage in the online game, the mainstream public may not want to participate in the type of active social news curating that Digg is based on. Simply put, Digg tried to branch out to a mainstream demographic that probably won't adopt it and lost a lot of existing users in the process.
So the message is clear. If you want to redesign a site, just make sure it looks good. But if you want to branch off in a whole new direction, be prepared to take some heat because it's basically a roll of the dice. And regardless of what happens to Digg, they have undoubtedly provided a great case study in how to "digg" your own grave.
