I’ve always wondered just how many Digg clones are out there. Although an admirer of Digg, I can’t say I am a user; just never saw the need to setup an account yet. But, I do think that is Digg is one of the best examples of Web showmanship around. The success of Digg has of course spawned a bunch of clones, which may or may not have any real value (any opinions on this?)
But whatever the benefits of using Digg clones, I’m certain only a few clones will actually survive beyond a few years. Many from last year are now non-functional.
The most successful Digg clone so far would have to be Netscape, but according to TechCrunch, AOL plans to shut it down?
Nowadays, there’s Pligg, so if you wanted a Digg clone yourself, hey, you could setup one with this free CMS.
But, it looks like a tough job to stay motivated and maintain a Digg clone. At least I think that’s why so many small Digg clones from last year no longer exist.
Here’s an impromptu list of Digg clones (besides Reddit) in general categories:
- ShoutWire – A simple design and nothing really fanciful to make it stand apart from Digg. Otherwise the most popular among the lot.
- Blogg-Buzz – Looks a tad like Digg, except for the coloring. Could be useful for bloggers. I noticed some popular bloggers are there.
- Care2 News Network – Excellent Digg clone focusing on environmental issues.
- Newsvine – Seeds instead of diggs. Quite popular because users get to write their own articles there.
- Wobble – Average Digg clone.
- Quadriot – Supposedly featuring quirky news.
In some of the Digg clones, I notice there is no way to “bury” spammy articles that obviously were spammed to the front page. So that’s a major weakness, because I did see some spam on some of these Digg clone’s front pages.
Digg clones may do better by catering to regional audience from a certain country or language, and trying to carve out an audience from there. Two examples:
In closing, I agree there are good clones, and there are bad clones. More at Mashable. Where does the line between cloning and rip-off start to fade? You decide.