The Life Cycle of Digg

Take a look at the graph below.  Superimposed on the “product life cylce” chart provided by the Boston Consulting Group is Digg.com’s traffic graph from Alexa.com.  Do you see any resemblance in the life cycles?

I did not alter or change the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) chart in any way.  All I did was match Alexa to the BCG chart so the X and Y axis were equal. Digg is in decline (and also in denial). 

Digg is offering a product–news sharing.  Instead of direct sales like a typical company, they are seeking traffic (which eventually results in advertising sales).  What is interesting about the product life cylce and Digg is the eerily close match.

Digg is the classic business case study of “great to late.”  Digg’s development and introduction were slow but once it caught on, the growth was phenomenal.  Like any product or company, it matured and started operating like a well oil machine.  In the internet, maturity to saturation is accelerated because new entrants in the market (i.e., Reddit, Del.icio.us, Newsvine, etc.) very quickly develop.  Web 2.0 Directory lists over 100 similar sites as Digg.  Now Digg is in decline.  Why?

One is over saturation of the market, obviously.  However, other sites such as Google have avoided that problem.  According to the Boston Consulting Group, the cause is an unwillingness to change.  Unlike Google which is highly innovative, Digg offers little in the way of “newness” to retain its customers.  The result, is a drop in market share and eventually the death of Digg.

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