Digg Experiments with Ads Users Can Vote

Digg, the popular news and link sharing site, has had a troubled history when it comes to user popularity or generating revenue. As such, it is trying to fix some of the things users have been complaining about, hoping to get them to return and, in this context, it has announced a new ad platform it has created, called Digg Ads.

“The platform will launch as a pilot in a few months, and it will be an ongoing work in progress as we learn more from the Digg community and adjust the system. We’re still in very early stages of working with advertisers and building the system, but we wanted you to be the first to hear about our plans,” representatives wrote in a post on the Digg blog.

The most interesting feature about this platform is that it will allow users to vote the ads, digging or burying them just as they would with a regular news story. The system works by making ads that get a lot of diggs cheaper for the advertiser. Of course, if an ad gets too many negative votes the price may go up too much and it will be eliminated for good. The new ads will appear just like regular stories 'within the stream' so the worry is they won't be very well received by Digg users. However, with the voting system it may be easier for them to accept it.

Allowing users to vote the ads though could be risky as users could easily just bury any ad they find in protest. Also, advertisers might be cautious in giving users so much control over their ads, but it may prove to be successful as there is a chance that popular ads not only cost less but also have more exposure. “Our goal for Digg Ads is to create a better experience by giving you more control over advertising content that appears on Digg,“ the post said.