or, at least in my opinion it is.As the new version of Netscape is just over a year old now, it seemed like a good time to fairly compare Netscape and Digg, the 2 most popular social news media sites. Pronet did a good job going over the basics of Netscape, as they did for Digg as well.
By the Stats
Digging further into the details – yes – Alexa, Compete, and anyone else that covers stats clearly shows Digg as the winner. As of 7/19/07, Alexa ranks Digg as 95 versus Netscape’s 569 ranking.
But wait…what about Page Rank?
vs.
Of course, Netscape has an unfair advantage as they have been around longer than most people have been on the Internet. Still, PageRank is PageRank – and Netscape wins.
How about Stickiness?
Over to Compete for some analysis, we see the a Netscape user has 7.1 pages per visit versus Digg’s 3.9. For the average visit length – Netscape is more than twice as good, scoring 3:04 vs. 1:22 on Digg.
Beyond the Stats
Digg is a larger community, and has been in full view of the public for a longer time as social media with a year head start over Netscape.
Netscape on the other hand is still associated with being a browser or some sort of search engine. If you asked the average user, most do not know about the relaunch of Netscape.
You’ve already heard the clichés that Digg is for young, immature people whereas Netscape users are older, and news headline / politically minded. You have probably also heard that Netscape is just a Digg clone.
Still, Netscape just seems like a nicer community to me. It’s mainly news and politics based, but I’ve seen many good articles there about tech, humor, and religion. Digg still seems to be very tech and gag focused. Look at the top stories side by side:
There’s just something about Netscape for me. It just seems more like a community. Maybe it’s the little images next to the top stories. Something about it seems more friendly to me. What do you think? Would love to hear your opinions.
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NowSourcing 
hmmm…
I hadn’t really considered netscape as an alterntive, I’ll give it a week.
you should, jon – it’s really come quite a ways!
Netscape rocks!
im gonna have to disagree here. I will give netscape another try for a while, but ive gone back and forth several times and i always end up back at digg. Im not sure its the content, because in general they are comperable…i think its general usability and the open API and the ajax interface. Some people say the front page is a monopoly with some key diggers always up front, but i dont really notice it.
I spend most of my time pulling stories from both digg and netscape as my primary news source is my google reader pulling rss feeds from about 10 different sources….but i do pull up the digg page when i want to browse an actual site.
Just my opinion.
Wonder how they stack up on the “narcissism scale”? I don’t know how stories about Netscape do on Netscape, but here’s how stories about Digg do on Digg:
http://www.networkworld.com/community/node/17559
mcosmi,
You bring up some very good points. By no means did I mean to say that I dislike Digg…its just that the majority of stories art very focused on specific areas of tech – so much to the point where I sometimes feel like I don’t know what else is going on in the world. CSS, Ajax, Web 2.0 stuff, and Ubuntu are all great things – but I feel like most stuff posted that is popular is either high-tech or belongs on the Oddly Enough page of Yahoo.
And yes, it does seem like there is a monopoly with some key diggers always up front. Do a little research, and you will see it too. Still, this does make sense, as a popular poster will have influence.
I enjoy both sites for different reasons.
For Netscape, I’m just saying that I like a few subtle things better (less profanity in comments, images next to top stories).
On Digg, I greatly enjoy Ajax and open API there as well. They really have done some amazing things with Digg labs and their blog is usually more current. Still, you would expect this, as they are a more mature community.
I definitely prefer Netscape over digg from both the quality of stories submitted to the user interaction and activity at Netscape. However, I admit slight bias as I’ve been a fan of Netscape since their browser version 4.xx. 🙂
sean,
Yes, would have to agree with you that the stories (in general) are of better overall quality in Netscape than in Digg.
I’ve been a huge fan of Netscape, and even remember when you could BUY the Netscape off the shelf, Netscape Gold, and Netscape Composer.
The Netscape of today is far different – they’ve changed it into a bona fide community. It’s pretty impressive that they re-branded as effectively as they did!
Wut the hell is digg? Ive never heard of it…I use netscape on a daily basis.
i always be tick off by netscape,i really donnot know the exact reasons,but i like this site,it can supply a lot friend to me,i like it.
@ wnpimp: nice one.
@ cellphoneguide: What exactly ticks you off about Netscape? Also which site are you saying that you like…Digg or Nowsourcing?
Dont be stupid. Netscape loses
Barry,
Care to explain why you think so? I cited several reasons why I think that Netscape is better.
Just stumbled into your blog, saw a link back to http://www.15blogs.com nice site, definitely adding you to my RSS reader.
The problem with Netscape is it seems really interesting stories never see the light of day, but it does seem those stories get crawled by Google resulting in longer term traffic instead of the Digg effect and then nothing.
So in the end you get the traffic to your story it just takes longer, and likely is more focused.
Chris,
Thanks for visiting, and glad you like it here! I’ve checked out your blog at noheat.com and will definitely add you to my RSS reader and my blog’s blogroll as well – nice stuff!
In regard to what you said about Netscape, that’s not always true. I’ve seen a lot of interesting stories see the light of day. As with any social media site, there is no way that most articles will reach the front page, and that propels them to popularity. You are correct that Google crawls the stories quite well.
It all depends on the level of interest, timing of your article, and how lucky you are….sometimes your story will get noticed quickly!
[…] Ever wonder how Netscape’s social news site stacks up to the reigning king Digg? Neither have we. However, an industrious young Netscape user decided to lay the numbers out for all to see and peruse. […]
@Mike:
You bet Netscape rocks!
@Expertlancer:
thanks for the pingback!
@Paul:
that’s a good question. I had a chance to read your blogpost on Digg. It certainly makes sense on both sides: a user that is established in their community is interested in the community news. This certainly makes sense on the Digg end, as they have opened their API and was very tech focused to begin with. I would expect to see more on the Netscape side in the future as well!
Like many, I’ve used netscape as browser for eons. I enjoy the ease of Netscape and the fact that there are so many different discussions that provide me with a view of how the gen.public views issues of the day. Of course it’s not all political as I have also read many many stories that would have otherwise gone unoticed to me. As a news junkie,Netscape certainly fits my requirements and allows participation from different sides.
I really have only one complaint concerning Netscape. The forum does not have a spell check. In view of the fact that we live in a global society and not everyone is so adept with the English language. Would it not make sense that Netscape improve communication by providing a spell check? I only speek english but my spelling is atrocious(sp)…see what I mean:-) I think it detracts from a posters point when it is riddled with errors like mine is. Also when I type fast due to the seriouness of the issue,I also make too many typos.
PLEASE I beg of you. Provide a spell check!:-) Seriously. I’ve asked this many times before. Can someone answer as to why there is no spell check?So many forums provide so much for the poster these days. When will Netscape get on board with their own board: by updating their technology. It’s available so why not provide it.
insideout,
Glad to hear you’re a Netscape fan as well. I share your appreciation for it being a great news source.
Regarding your spell check issue – do you *shudder* IE to surf the web? I’m using Firefox (don’t hate me, Netscape!) and any word that is misspelled gets underlined. I can then just right-click, and different spelling suggestions are offered. Hope this helps!
[…] Netscape is Better than Digg or, at least in my opinion it is.As the new version of Netscape is just over a year old now, it seemed like a good time […] […]
If you’re going to mention Compete, why not point out Netscape had 4.9 million visitors in June (down 33% year over year) compared to digg’s 22.5 million visitors (up 1172% year over year)? It’s great that Netscape has such an engaged user base. Relatively, though, they just don’t have many users.
[…] Ever wonder how Netscape’s social news site stacks up to the reigning king Digg? Neither have we. However, an industrious young Netscape user decided to lay the numbers out for all to see and peruse. […]
David,
Sure we can mention that, as my first point in the comparison was that Digg was the clear winner and that they hold a higher position.
While we are talking about that, also consider that Digg’s growth has flatlined during the last 2 months….perhaps critical mass? I still say that Netscape has more to grow.
I also prefer Netscape to Digg, here are ten reasons why:
http://seo2.0.onreact.com/10-reasons-not-to-use-digg
I’ve not had much luck with digg. I have a question. How can I find out how my blog ranks?
onreactcom (Tadeusz),
Thanks for posting! I like your 10 reasons not to use Digg list.
karen,
Sorry to hear that you haven’t had much luck with Digg. Don’t worry, most people don’t. Check out SEOmoz’s post about Digg mostly controlled by its top posters: http://www.seomoz.org/blog/top-100-digg-users-control-56-of-diggs-homepage-content
As far as your question about how your blog ranks…that’s a bigger question than you might think. Certainly you can look at your stats on Alexa and Technorati, but I’d need to understand more detail about your question to give you a more complete answer. Thanks for posting!
[…] calls the Internet high-speed access to another soul. In my previous post, I compared two very popular communities – Netscape and Digg. Social Media is changing the way we […]
[…] Read more on NowSourcing… [?] Share This (No Ratings Yet) Loading … […]
thanks for the pingback, programimi!
[…] days ago I read a blog post about Netscape.com being better than Digg. After reading it I finally decided to try Netscape. First I submitted a story about my aversion […]
I totally agree, Netscape is better. It’s easy to use and looks better.
Regards, Juri
———————-
3stepADS – Free Advertising Blog
@Juri: I’m with you on this one. There are definitely elements that I like on both, but I feel more comfortable with Netscape.
Hello. Look at http://socialposter.com – this will be interesting to you, it is a service that lets you post a web page to numerous social bookmarking sites.