Late last night, an article from Digg.com popped up in my RSS reader. It read: “Digg Users, Help Student Disprove SUNY Professor with 4 Clicks”. Intrigued, I clicked on it and found out it was a simple survey asking whether or not you wanted to be a ninja, pirate or gladiator. Turns out some college kid wanted to proof to a professor that an internet survey can garner more than 500 responses without giving something away.

Now before you say “hey, sounds like fun!”, hear me out. Digg started out as a site for submitting and voting on technology news. That was a year ago. Now it’s turned into more of a playground for interesting tidbits, where content does not matter any more. Seems like all you need is a great and wacky title that will please the masses.

I’m not saying it’s bad. It’s just a change in direction, for better or for worse. Judging from the type of comments and the new categories, Digg is really starting to appeal to a more mainstream audience. Could this lead to a merger/acquisition? Absolutely possible.

Do I still use Digg? For interesting tidbits, yes. For serious news, neh. There are better sources around. Want to waste some time? Take the survey. Oh and by the way, I chose pirate. Yarr.