Would Digg Be Anything Without Kevin Rose? On Brandname Recognition
Posted by junger - 08/13/06 at 09:08:22 pmLet me start off by saying this, in fear of multiple flames: I have nothing against Digg, Kevin Rose, or the Digg community. I simply have a reasonable, analytical look at the importance of brandnames on products, and Digg happens to be a very good example.
If you aren't familiar with Digg, read the Wikipedia entry. Otherwise, the important thing to know here is that Digg was co-founded by Kevin Rose. Rose, recently proclaimed a $60 million man by Business Week (although he admits he can't afford to buy a couch for his apartment), was a former host of geek/techie fav TechTV.
He amassed a bit of a following on TechTV and after his departure, launching Digg in the winter of 2004. With the current popularity and hype surrounding Digg, I have to wonder: what would Digg be like without Kevin Rose attached to it?
Let's consider a scenario where Digg is created with all of the same functionality as it currently has, but Rose is not a part of the project. Arguably, it would probably follow a similar path to other Web 2.0 sites such as Newsvine, del.icio.us and Reddit. All three sites have their core audiences, but none are as lively, hyped-up or discussed as much as Digg.
I think it's fair to say that Rose's following from his TechTV days has checked out and joined the Digg community (myself included), which has obviously had a huge impact on the site's popularity. TechTV fanboys know his name and face, and that's brought them over to Digg.
So what's the point? Rose is a brandname. Would the Digg community be as involved, active and, well, large, if Rose's brandname was not attached to the project? I don't think so. But his established name means something, especially when the site gets press in non-tech publications.
It's sort of like why we all watched when Michael Jordan went to play baseball. It didn't matter that he sucked — he was Michael Jordan. Now, Digg is obviously better than Jordan playing baseball, but the point is that it has received a bit of a boost from Rose's namepower. That's not a bad thing at all — he's obviously earned the following and fanboys that want to be on his bandwagon, and that's more power to him.
But what would Digg be without his brandname attached to it? It's a perfectly legitimate question.
What do you think? Leave a comment below.
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is there something more unimportant to say about digg?
maybe it was enough to cut up to 'I like digg, but I can't just take it without being accepted that I have important things to say about things that I like'
Comment by esiminch — August 14, 2006 #
You're going to have to help me out, esiminch — I don't understand what you mean.
Comment by junger — August 14, 2006 #
I think one of the big reasons for Digg's success is the Diggnation vidcast. Being subscribed keeps Digg on people's minds, and forms positive associations with it.
Comment by Liam — October 5, 2006 #
Liam – I completely agree. I don't watch the vidcast, but I know folks who do, and they are always talking about it.
Putting a face to a product (especially an online one) is a great way to create brandname recognition. It's not something that's easy to do online.
Comment by junger — October 5, 2006 #