In June of 2008, 31% of the Digg front page was controlled by 10 users and 51% was controlled by the top 30.
Things are a bit different as the Digg algorithm has moved in recent months to add more diversity to the mix, preventing many “power users” from having stories promoted several times a day while making it easier for non-power-users to hit the front page.
Below, you’ll see a breakdown with the top 10 users down from 31% to just over 10% and the top 50 having fewer front pages than the top 30 a year and a half ago.
While the system is far from perfect and the glaring hole on the left side of the chart (millions of users represented by less than half of the front page) it is still a step in the right direction. Concepts such as anonymous submissions, unauthenticated voting, and API-based digging, burying, and submitting have been tossed around lately.
Whatever they do next, one thing is certain. Their goal is to make money, as any business should, and in so being their path will be determined by what is best for the advertisers in their opinion. While it is still a community-driven site, they believe that their user-base is strong enough to handle changes that cater to profits. Whether or not this is true will be determined in the next few months.
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Read more about the Digg Front Page on Soshable.
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