Friedbeef’s Tech

Digg is currently the most popular social media website (Yahoo Buzz doesn’t qualify because it is not open to smaller blogs), and over 60 stories are promoted to the front page and receive massive amounts of traffic. The users who submit such popular posts, are revered and are fondly called "power users". If you are aspiring to be a power user, a semi-active Digger or simply browse Digg for stories, you need the right tools for the job.

Below, you will find 6 useful tools. Note that most of them are aimed towards avid submitters, but even non-submitting users can make use of these tools. This is not a giant list of all the Digg tools available, but a selection of the best ones out there. You’d probably be overloaded and overwhelmed by all the tools out there!

1. Find site mirrors with DuggBack

Many of the websites and blogs (usually on shared hosting) that hit Digg usually go down because of the massive amounts of traffic. This is fondly named as the Digg effect. DuggBack uses a variety of methods to retrieve and serve the page, which can be useful when the site goes down. Visit DuggBack

2. Analyze your digging trends with TINC

TINC is a minimalist and light-weight tool that shows you your last few submissions, who diggs your submissions frequently, and whom you digg frequently. A useful tool to analyze digging patterns and who liked your submissions (so that you could, for example, befriend them). Visit TINC

3. Get customized RSS feed with PiggFeed

PiggFeed provides a handy alternative to the RSS feed that Digg provides. You can trim and tune the feed to your liking. Features include links directly to the article (as opposed to the Digg page, when subscribed to Digg RSS feed), the domain of the article as the author, link to the digg page with the current number of comments, links to DuggMirror, DotCache, Coral Cache, and Google Cache (useful if the page goes down) and lots more. You can choose the category, topics, number of items etc. and get the final feed by clicking the large RSS button at the end of the configuration page. Visit PiggFeed

4. DiggAlerter: Find who’s digging/commenting on your submissions

DiggAlerter monitors submissions of the username chosen by you and reports the title, topic, diggs, comments and number of hours since submission. The username could even be someone other than you, so if you are not an active Digger, you can monitor submissions of a popular user (for example, MrBabyMan). Visit DiggAlerter

5. Speed up submissions with Digg Firefox Extension

 Requires Firefox browser to be installed. I started using Digg Firefox extension when Smart Digg extension (my favorite until recently) became incompatible with Firefox 3, but I have never had to look back. DFE has an array of impressive features, like submitting the page you are on, recently popular, recently submitted, top, hottest stories etc., viewing friends’ activities, all from a neat menu tucked into the menubar on Firefox. Get Digg Firefox Extension

Hopefully, you have learned a few tricks tools of the trade now. Remember that the content and sources you submit still matters more, and these extensions and tools can only supplement your efforts. Happy digging!

This post was written by Sumesh & edited by James Yeang.  Sumesh is the owner of TechZilo, a weblog that focuses on software (reviews and tips), productivity, web applications and services.

What other Digg tools do you use?  Tell us in the comments!