A look back at the death of Digg

It has been over three years since Digg decided to sell out to corporate interests and turn into a venue for mainstream media rather than a user-curated site. That didn’t last very long before they realized the error of their ways, but by the time they tried to switch back it was already too late. Looking back, it’s one of the saddest tales of social media failures.

There has never been a social media site that acted more like a meritocracy than the old Digg.com. It required true talent at both finding the content and “gaming the system” to become a power user. Only a few hundred people in the world mastered it.