A pattern seems to be emerging that appears to be more than just plain coincidence. Important socioeconomic news tends to appear on Digg a full day after it appears on the front page of Reddit. Case in point: Dubai’s Slave Society, an article in the UK newspaper The Independent about Dubai’s appalling human rights problems. (Reddit: The dark side of Dubai)
Another article that made it hot on Reddit earlier today, and now appears on Digg is the one on Trent Reznor at Contact Music. (Reddit: Trent Reznor: Biggest wake up call).
This isn’t the first time this has happened. We’ve mentioned Digg’s propensity to copy trends from Reddit earlier. Social bookmarking enthusiasts around the Internet should endeavor to report this apparent content submission “emulation” whenever it should occur. The sad truth is that Digg is becoming redundant, fast.
Even if Digg users were to argue that the content they submit to Digg is coincidentally worthy enough to make it to the front page, the fact that Reddit consistently lands extremely newsworthy front page articles first attests to the great efficiency and resourcefulness of both Reddit’s submitters and its upmodders.
Another factor contributing to Reddit’s success may be the site’s technical build that allows important news items to be rapidly promoted by an egalitarian community effort, a far cry from Digg’s elitist social network that thrives on favouritism and cronyism.
