Yahoo Buzz versus Digg

On February 26^th Yahoo launched the new Yahoo Buzz. This social media site is very similar to Digg where users share noteworthy news, articles, images, and videos they find online. Currently Yahoo Buzz is in beta, and during this period they are only allowing 100 websites into this network. By the summertime, Yahoo will open the site up to the Yahoo Publisher Network.

All of the content you find on Yahoo Buzz will obtain a Buzz Score (comparable to the number of “diggs” received on digg.com). The Buzz score is comprised of the number of votes, how often the content is shared via email, and how popular the search terms are on Yahoo. A cool feature with Yahoo Buzz is that the content with the highest Buzz score can be seen on the Yahoo Homepage. Since most people start their searches on the homepage, this is a great way for content to receive increased exposure.

One of the notable differences between the Yahoo Buzz and Digg interface is the option to leave comments. On Digg, users are able to leave comments on all content posted on the site. Leaving comments is a great way to get users involved and to encourage users to submit content to see what others have to say about it. At this time Yahoo does not have this option. Another difference is that Yahoo allows its users the ability to vote down or “buzz down” content on the site that the user does not like. Digg does not have this feature.

With the release of Yahoo Buzz a few years after Digg was launched, many are questioning why Yahoo, being the world’s second largest search engine, seems to be far behind the bandwagon on the release of this service. How will Yahoo Buzz compete with Digg in the future, and will loyal Digg users switch over to this site because it is powered by Yahoo, only time will tell!