Look, Mom, we made a verb!

It’s been a wild couple of weeks.  Time magazine included me in their annual TIME 100 list this year. While an extraordinary honor, it’s always a bit strange to find yourself on list like that.  Last week, Digg won a Webby People’s Voice Award.  And this week, Sarah Lacy is releasing her new book in which Kevin and I are among the wacky cast of characters.  It’s even more startling to see yourself portrayed in a book, although so much has happened at Digg since we first started speaking with Sarah a couple of years ago.  She actually finished talking to us for the book such a long time ago that it’s interesting to see her perspective from that snapshot in time.

In any case, with all of these recent events, it got me thinking about entrepreneurship and how far Digg has come in such a very short time.

It was only two years ago that Digg had a team of only fifteen people.  Back then, we were still very focused on technology news, though we already had plans (from the very beginning) to launch V3 and expand beyond to other content and media types, which we did shortly after we started talking to Sarah in July of 2006.

Today, Digg’s community of users has grown to around 26 million unique visitors a month.  Technology is still an important and growing section, though we’ve added a wide range of other topics including World & Business, Offbeat, and Lifestyle, and you can now submit news stories, videos and images – pretty much any type of content with a URL…and there is more coming!

We’ve developed a range of new tools, including widgets/gadgets, and personalization and customization tools.  Another thing we’ve done since then was to open up our API, which makes it possible for third-party developers to create applications based on the Digg platform.  Soon we’ll be rolling out our new recommendation engine, which will add a new dynamic to the way people discover interesting things on the Web (and allow our users to better sift through our daily submissions, which now number greater than 15,000).  And the Digg crew is now over sixty people strong!

Yet, while we’ve made tremendous progress, we have completed only a fraction of our vision for Digg.  With each day, as more features are added, and as more people use Digg, Digg becomes more valuable as a way to discover and share content from anywhere on the Web, and every day, Kevin and the community come up with bigger ideas for how to apply Digg in new ways.

We’re pumped.  We’re extremely psyched about the opportunities that lie ahead.  Our only constraint is our ability to implement the new ideas as quickly as we can devise them.  That should start to improve as we hire more smart, motivated people and take care of some long-over-due infrastructure enhancements that we’ve been implementing this year.

What has always fascinated me about Digg is how it changes the way we consume information. It does so by leveling the media playing field and by contributing to the democratization of media and information, a concept I’ve talked about in the past.

It’s true, my family has been and always will be a priority for me, though there has never been a conflict between their needs and my running of Digg.  My wife Brenda and my kids, Rowan, Ben and Lisa, have all supported my effort to see Digg reach its full potential.  They know that in addition to being a father, Digg gives me a tremendous sense of purpose and motivates me.  I know this to be true for Kevin and many others on the Digg team, too.

And so, it is great to see that the word “Digg” is beginning to become a verb in the English lexicon.  I’m looking forward to seeing what the next few years bring.

Jay

P.S.  Digg is always looking for amazing and cool people. So send us your resume – we’re hiring!

Comments

[Rob]

Well congratulations. It's nice to see the people behind the site I've participated in since Sept. 2005. Can't believe we're at 3 years in a few months.

[Mike]

Your blog makes my eyes hurt.

[Adam Debreczeni]

Your commments bring me joy to know the soul of Web 2.0 is not dead. It's extremely exciting and important that the CEOs are truly motivated by their creation and product. As a youngster (if you count High School) it's quite inspiring to create something exciting, maybe be the next verb. Keep up the great work, and I know I'll be Digging the new features you guys will be pumping out with Burka's wondrous designs. Cheers, and congratulations on Time's 100 list, what an honor.

[Michael]

I think Digg needs to take a hard look at how the elections have had an impact on the site, in particular what stories make it to the front page.

Digg has not revolutionized coverage of the campaigns. Instead, Digg serves as an echo chamber for like-minded people and informs no one (on politics). It continues to be manipulated by motivated and self-interested parties.

We've seen this in the past where groups of users had undue influence over what made it to the front page. And now we're seeing it again.

[Television Spy]

Well you've not only made history, you've also created a platform that creates it.

[Ramesh Ramloll]

I have been an admirer of the Digg's execution an important idea, using user ratings to impact presentatioin of news, for a long time. Execution is what matters and you guys did it. Congratulations and keep up the good work.

[sarah lacy]

jay and kevin are two of the most genuine people in web twenty. thanks for the book shout out and congrats on all the milestones!!

[PURPLEDRINK]

I feel really sorry for anyone who works at digg as a developer. No job security at all, could be sold out at any time. Taking a look at the major lack of a working comment system just wow..

[Jeff Shepherd]

Jay

An amazing year indeed.

Last week I was visiting my 96 year old Grandma in FLA --no internet access-- but she does have a subscription to Time Magazine! ...and there you are.

Couldn't have happened to a nicer guy.

Jeff

[Adam Singer]

i read sara's book and your story is epic, interesting and altogether compelling

you are a total inspiration jay and on my list of people i'd love to meet before dying

[Jay Adelson]

Thanks, Adam. That means a lot. She even left out the last two startups I was involved in... but there are only so many pages!

Life moves on, and Digg is extremely exciting for us. We remain energized as ever and we're rolling out features as fast as we can (which is about 1/100th of the speed we come up with them on the whiteboard).

[Gregory Kohs]

Jay, I've just discovered some comments on Digg from an anonymous (using a fictitious name) user who suggests that I am an inadequate father and husband, and that it is assumed that I wear thong underwear with photos of women on them.

When I requested that abuse@digg.com remove these defamatory comments (as they clearly violate Digg's TOS), I was told that they are protected free speech. My lawyer's advice to obtain from Digg the IP address of the anonymous user was also rejected by the abuse team.

Why does Digg operate as a defamation engine in this way? Would a comment from an anonymous user that claimed Jay Adelson may have had gay sex with Bob Rieger stay posted on Digg, or would you take that down?

[Jay Adelson]

Gregory,

I can't discuss Digg.com support issues publicly, but Digg does vigorously defend free speech and maintains a neutral stance regarding public debate. I will say that much worse things have been said about me and left up in comments...so I sympathize.

-Jay

[Gregory Kohs]

Then why do your Terms of Service deny users the right to exploit Digg as an abuse platform? If your team isn't going to do anything about defamatory content about non-public figures, why even have the TOS in the first place?

[Ian]

Following on from Gregory was talking about, I believe Digg has a responsibility over all comments made on it's platform. If someone makes derogatory comments about another individual on a blog of mine and I am asked to remove it I do so without exeception - it's called common courtesy. There is a difference between free speech - which is making a constructive argument - than outright lies to defame an individual. These days people's career can be destroyed by comments made in public forums and I think it is absolutely disgraceful for an individual like Jay Adelson to make no attempt to put a stop to cyber bullying. As for Jay Adelson simply saying people write stuff about him, well with that attitude I'm sure they do. Then again it won't harm him so much with millions in his bank account. It's other people with family's and young children to support who are being victimised that suffer. Grow up son and take some responsibility.

[Ian]

As I suspected, no response from you Mr Adelson. As far as I am concerned if Digg refuses to remove defamatory statements and acts of cyber bullying then they are aiding and abetting a crime.

Unfortunately the lack of control by the likes of Mr Adelson is causing the internet to be a mouthpiece for bullying, abuse and defamation. It is this lack of control that will destroy the internet because I for one am losing all trust in sharing my data with online companies because of the abuse and lack of control.

What is the point in having an email address for abuse when you allow the abuse to go unchallenged?

I would appreciate Mr Adelson contacting me on this matter if he has time to spare.

[Karen Krisfalusi]

Hi,

Could you please contact me. I can't find an address to write to you at but I do have an important matter to discuss with you relating to how you advertise in Canada.

For your information, it is illegal to advertise human contraceptives in Canada. Yet your .com Digg is doing that, at www.macleans.ca, on practically every page hosted by rogers publishing. Your company is breaking the law here in Canada. You can't advertise 'Anya' to get more diggs for own site.

Thanks,
karen