Should Digg Fear Pligg?

Posted on January 6, 2007

A post on Cornwall SEO asks if open source software products like the Pligg CMS could lead to the downfall of Digg. Pligg makes it easy to create a memedigger site similar to Digg. Many Pligg sites have already been established. The Cornwall SEO post lists some Pligg sites that been created in different categories. There's a gaming news Pligg called GameSnips; and a business news Pligg site called BizzBites from Know More Media. TreeHugger created a green Pligg called Hugg.

Pligg sites and other Digg clones may threaten Digg's ability to expand into new niches but it will be very very hard for Pliggs or other Digg clones to surpass Digg.com in the technology news niche. Jason Calacanis, who lead a Digg-inspired redesign of Netscape.com while he was still with AOL, suggests that the Digg founders try new websites if they want to expand out of the tech category.

Calacanis says, "Now, the hard truth: digg is never going to go beyond this group on the digg.com domain name. Now, this isn't a digg to digg, this is just a fact of life and some friendly advice to Jay and Kevin. When you build a huge, passionate community like digg has (and Fark, Slashdot, Engadget, iVillage, and the Well have), you live and die with that group. If digg wants to go big they should start a second digg for women, and one for politics--they shouldn't do it as part of digg."

Digg could certainly try new websites. Digg competitor Reddit had some success when it launched Lipstick, a memedigger focused on celebrity gossip. Digg could also try licensing the technology to other companies. Then again Digg's founders may not even care. As Mark Evans' writes Digg's founders may be in the "'build it and they will buy' business."