It's a rumour that has been around for months but TechCrunch is now reporting that search engine Google could be on the verge of buying Digg, one of the web's most popular social bookmarking sites, for $200 million.According to the influential tech blog, the deal is almost done and could close in a couple of weeks, though it could still fall through if certain points are not agreed upon. The news may come as a major blow to Microsoft, who signed a three-year advertising deal with Digg just over a year ago, from which the social site has received $11.3 million in venture capital. If Digg is sold to Google, this partnership will be extinguished - something that's sure to displease the software giant, whose ongoing wranglings with Yahoo! have dominated headlines since February.
But what do Digg users - one of the strongest social communities on the web - think of the acquisition? On an active thread on the site, users have been debating the various merits and drawbacks that could result from a Google buyout. Some are positive - "Cool. Maybe Google will finally fix Digg's search engine," says seanjanis - but most are mourning what they see as the end of the site's independence, with one user lamenting, "This is the beginning of the end. In a few years, all the major blogs and social media sites will be owned by large corporations, putting us right back where we started."
Google's track record in acquiring and enhancing popular social networks has been mixed. Its historic buyout of YouTube in October 2006 for $1.65 billion - a massive figure that really puts the Digg acquisition into perspective - has been a sure-fire success. Google's financial might has provided some much needed support to the video search engine, especially in the face of seminal lawsuits like its current court dealings with media conglomerate Viacom.
However, other social sites in the Google family have been less fortunate. In October 2007, for instance, it purchased micro-blogging site Jaiku - in its heyday, a real competitor to Twitter - but it's since left the site languishing, with Jaiku's homepage still displaying its initial buyout message and user-sign ups closed for the last 10 months.
What's more, with so many other major social sites owned by large corporations - Yahoo! owns Flickr, MySpace is safely nestled in NewsCorp's bosom and Bebo was acquired by AOL earlier this year - Digg, alongside Facebook and Twitter, are among the last remaining breeds of independent social networks on the web. As a result, a Google acquisition is sure to devalue its significance in the eyes of many users, though the deal will certainly bring Digg to the attention of more mainstream web users.
For avid Google users who are unfamiliar with Digg, the benefits of buying the social bookmarking site are more tangible. According to the Search Engine Journal, Digg is likely to be subsumed into Google News. Digg's emphasis on social news sharing is sure to bolster Google News' offerings in the face of rising competition from the likes of Yahoo! Buzz - which reportedly saw 9.2 million users in June, according to comScore - and AOL's newly relaunched Propeller.
Despite the fact that many industry analysts are certain the purchase will take place, nothing has been announced officially by either side as yet. But when - or if - it is, the social media stars are sure to realign before our very eyes, with Digg being catapulted into the web stratosphere or being relegated to an earthbound position. Which way it goes is really up to Google, the ever-growing godfather of the internet.
