I truly feel it's about time they get acquired. They've been searching for a good fit, and I think everyone knew the obvious pair would be with Google.
Microsoft acquiring digg on the other hand? That would be a death notice to digg's userbase.
Microsoft acquiring digg on the other hand? That would be a death notice to digg's userbase.
Google really excels at building technical solutions to challenging problems, while Digg has done a great job building a community-based solution to a challenging problem.
It seems to me every time Google attempts community, they more or less fail (Dodgeball, Jaiku, the new Lively hasn't done much, etc).
That is why, in my mind, they're an obvious pair to improve one another.
Google is extremely fit technically, yes. It can almost certainly help Digg out in that regard. But will it? They've been extremely lax in working with some of their services. (Jaiku, for instance.)
Meanwhile, Google continues its search for community. But is Digg really the sort of community Google wants? Its community is roundly dissed around the 'net for being immature, juvenile, shortsighted, and fanatic. I mean, compare it to reddit. The fanatics on reddit have NOTHING on the average Digg user.
Google doesn't get that community involves finding a way to get people to connect with other people. Orkut was a round failure because of that - it didn't innovate, like Facebook did, it just maintained status quo. By acquiring Digg, they've acquired a community on paper, but in reality they've really just risked their reputation for being mature and classy.
I don't think the average user would care/notice who owns Digg, and even if they did, they probably wouldn't change their choice of social news site based on some M&A transaction.
And Google? A company almost exclusively limited to people who fit the academic mold--having advanced degrees from advanced schools, with all the earmarks indicating tolerance for nerdy endeavors but without too much of an inclination toward free thought.
This must be a purely strategic, embrace and smother move. Google must realize the "Digg Army" will be too busy pursuing superficial pleasures to notice their gradual assimilation, not to mention the fine print.