The Grill: Digg.com's Jay Adelson on the Hot Seat

The CEO of Digg.com talks about cutting out the middleman, taking risks and quelling an online riot.

By Heather Havenstein

May 28, 2007 12:00 PM ET

Comments

Computerworld - Digg Inc. is a Web 2.0 company that lets users post news stories, which are then dugg (bumped up the list of popular stories) or buried based on the reactions of other readers. The companys Digg.com Web site has been on a steady growth path since February 2005, when a story about Paris Hiltons cell phone being hacked was dugg, resulting in traffic doubling virtually overnight. Now, the Digg this story logo is included with countless online news stories, and having a story or blog post dugg has become an online status symbol. Digg.com celebrated its 1 millionth registered user in mid-April.

How did you come to be the CEO of Digg? It seems to be a bit of a jump from an entrepreneur who founded Equinix, a provider of data center and Internet exchange services. Ive always been focused on disintermediation and applying technology or concepts that really level the playing field. That is what captured my interest when my friend Kevin Rose started to explain to me the early concept behind Digg. It is similar to how Equinix [eliminated intermediaries] for telecom companies. When the Internet became a commercial medium in 1994, all of the Internet had been funded and operated by the government and universities. When it switched over to one operated by telecommunication companies, a very strong hierarchy developed. Tier 1 ISPs, the top five players in the world, would collect a dime on every packet that flowed throughout the Internet.

Dossier

Name:
Jay Adelson

Title:
CEO

Company: Digg Inc.

Locations: San Francisco and New York's Hudson River Valley

Favorite non-Digg technology: Video chat

Favorite nonwork pastimes: Home theater gadgets, construction carpentry, filmmaking

Favorite movie: Raiders of the Lost Ark

Favorite non-Digg Web site: TheOnion.com

Part of the reason was all the Internet networks had to interconnect with each other using these antiquated network access points operated by carriers. Equinix replaced these single, network-owned facilities with Internet business exchanges where anyone could exchange packets with anyone in a neutral playing field. This allowed the dot-coms like Yahoo and Google and others to really exert their might. Digg does a very similar thing to the media. I have had an incredible passion about communication and how to break down the barriers for establishing a voice of the people.

You have been quoted as saying, A lot of companies are afraid to touch their original technology, to reconsider the premise on which they started the business. But when you stop doing that, thats when you get lapped. What are examples of companies that have refused to re-examine their original technology or premise and suffered for that? If you look across the Internet landscape, you see plenty of carcasses on the side of the road. The most famous ones are Friendster and even Digg look-alikes. In the world of the Web, you have to be willing to take risks, and the largest of the media companies out there tend to be the most risk-averse. They are publicly traded [and have] a very conservative approach that is not the speed at which the consumers need an Internet company to move. Digg has been willing to go out there, execute on an idea and pull it back if it fails.

Comment Recommend Digg Twitter ShareThis

Email Print Send Feedback Reprints

Jump to comments

Internet

Additional Resources

WHITE PAPER

EFD vs. HDD - What You Need to Know

Enterprise flash drives provide a new Tier 0 storage layer capable of delivering high I/O performance at a very low latency. Proper use of EFDs in an Oracle environment can deliver increased performance compared to fibre channel drives. Read the recommendations for identification of the best DB components for EFDs.

WHITE PAPER

Gartner Research Report: Magic Quadrant for Application Delivery Controllers, 2009

The market for products to improve the delivery of application software over networks remains dynamic and innovative. Vendors focused on solving enterprises' most-pressing application problems have become the top players.

WHITE PAPER

Eight Criteria for Server Load Balancing

Server load balancers are a simple yet highly effective means to scale an application environment while ensuring its availability. Today's solutions should also address application performance and security. Read about the top eight criteria you should consider when choosing a server load balancer and how Citrix NetScaler meets those requirements.