Monday, April 6, 2009

What Does Digg Like? A Cultural Study

Digg, Culture, Insanity

Digg is a huge social networking site that some claim has created a subcultural of its own. Following the model of participant observation inspired by the venture of a well-known social anthropologist, I decided to read digg and write this post. Digg's culture is certainly not without it quirks. Some would argue that Digg is nothing more than a collection of quirks. What is clear from my research is what Digg likes...

From watching the front-page for the past few days, I can tell that Digg likes:
  1. Ending monarchies that are complacent in the rise of residential coyote attacks related to cooking with bacon.
  2. Doing wheelies near dubai while obsessively staring into the eyes of the tumbling economy
  3. Making netbooks based on Disney-cloned vampires that enjoy fast and furious web development tutorials
  4. Quantum mathematics related to marijuana users on Wordpress that talk at TED in search of lithium at Microsoft
  5. Switching Babies with manatees in 1957 during car crashes in Russia covered by Bush-era torture memos
I wasn't totally satisfied with this conclusion, so I decided to create a plot out of this following the model of the Tom Clancy Plot Generator using frequently appearing terms and ideas:

Under the staring eyes of baby manatees, Monarchs devise a scheme to increase coyotee attacks for ransom. The plot twists when the Monarchs threaten to blow up the Disney-cloned vampire netbooks even after their demands are met. Millions of lives are at stake unless a turncoat quantum pot-head blogging mathematician can gain the courage to do the right thing and stop the Monarchs once and for all. The movie ends with a mildly comical and ironic scene in which the Monarchs blow up or go to Dubai. Another satisfying tale of political intrigue and personal redemption closes, and we all walk away from this movie a little poorer as the market plummets.