Thing #12 Do You Digg?

Well, I looked at all four sites.

I think all of the sites sensationalize the "news" even more than tv and newspapers do. I think that a lot of "junk news" gets the popular vote on these sites. I don't believe that these sites add to productivity, and they have a tendency to get people to just read the headlines. The sites remind me of the "National Enquirer" somehow.

I read an article about Colin Powell on Digg and one about Americans having to live within their means rather than using credit cards on Reddit. I had already heard the story about Colin Powell on the radio this morning. The article about credit cards was nothing new.

I suppose I'm missing some kind of point here.

I don't quite understand that there is a special way to "share" a news article--in the past I have always just cut and pasted the URL into an email and sent it to a friend. Sometimes I just highlight the article and put it in an email. I know that some online news providers have a spot that says "email this article" but I didn't find it on the ones 23 Things have listed.

However, I don't like to send unsolicited articles to friends and colleagues very often. This can be just as annoying as when people send prayers and jokes and inspirational and political blurbs to people via email. I might think they're cute or inspiring or funny, but lots of people just hate getting that stuff sent to them and sometimes a virus is an unfortunate side effect.

Of course, friends and colleagues can choose not to read what I send them, but some people feel pressured to read stuff that they don't really have time to read. Anyway, I'm feeling a little owly tonight so I might take another look at these things when I'm in a better mood. ;o)