Secrets of Going Popular Twice on Digg

Submitted by SocialAlerter on Mon, 03/24/2008 - 16:52.

In a thread today at SEO Refugee, Yuri asked about stories getting submitted more than once to Digg. The question is what happens if the same URL is submitted more than once? Will the submissions get buried? Social Alerter's data can help us in answering this question.

There is a lot of ground to cover here so buckle up - it's a long post.

The Data Set

Social Alerter tracks only stories that got any traction on Digg (i.e. stories with more than a handful of diggs); the number of stories is currently about 41000 stories. Of those, about 5700 went popular. They are two data sets that overlap - the popular stories are also wholly included in the 41000 story data set.

Multiple Submissions

So, how many stories got submitted more than once?

Of the 5700 popular stories, 10 submissions were 5 stories each submitted twice. These 10 submissions/5 stories are detailed below. So yes, the same story can go popular more than once on Digg.

Of the complete data set of stories (the one with 41000 stories), 206 stories (unique URLs) were submitted more than once. Some stats:

Multiple Submissions = Popular?

Of the 206 stories that were submitted more than once, how many actually became popular? The answer is 62 stories, and the rest (144 stories) did not become popular at all. The upshot of this result is that multiple submissions are more likely to get buried that get promoted.

Final Remarks

Before getting lost in the data for those 5 stories let's think about this a bit more: By far, most stories get submitted only once, and those that do get any traction tend to not go popular.

Stories that Popped More than Once

Now let us look in detail at those 5 stories that went popular twice each. The format of the info below is the same for each story as it was a script that extracted the data.

Without further ado...


This story from abcnews.go.com was submitted 2 times.

Digg story page: Hillary Remained Silent As Wal-Mart Fought Unions
Details: Submitted on Thu, 31 Jan 2008 13:30:30 +0000 by cg4et in US Elections 2008. It was promoted at Thu, 31 Jan 2008 22:30:06 +0000.

The story has no known buries.

Digg story page: Clinton Remained Silent As Wal-Mart Fought Unions
Details: Submitted on Tue, 11 Mar 2008 02:42:58 +0000 by dguisinger in US Elections 2008. It was promoted at Tue, 11 Mar 2008 17:10:06 +0000.
Bury Event When Buried Why Buried
1 2008-03-11 14:10 Duplicate Story
2 2008-03-11 17:08 Spam
3 2008-03-11 17:13 Spam
4 2008-03-11 17:13 General Bury
5 2008-03-11 17:13 General Bury
6 2008-03-11 17:13 OK, This is Lame
7 2008-03-11 17:16 General Bury
8 2008-03-11 17:20 OK, This is Lame
9 2008-03-11 17:22 OK, This is Lame
10 2008-03-11 17:23 General Bury
11 2008-03-11 17:24 General Bury
12 2008-03-11 17:26 General Bury
13 2008-03-11 17:25 General Bury
14 2008-03-11 17:28 Spam
15 2008-03-11 17:31 General Bury
16 2008-03-11 17:43 Inaccurate
17 2008-03-11 17:46 General Bury
18 2008-03-11 17:50 Duplicate Story
19 2008-03-11 17:52 General Bury
20 2008-03-11 17:53 General Bury
21 2008-03-11 17:52 Duplicate Story
22 2008-03-11 17:52 General Bury
23 2008-03-11 17:52 OK, This is Lame
24 2008-03-11 18:00 Inaccurate
25 2008-03-11 18:02 General Bury
26 2008-03-11 18:02 Inaccurate
27 2008-03-11 18:09 General Bury
28 2008-03-11 18:09 Inaccurate
29 2008-03-11 18:14 General Bury
30 2008-03-11 18:34 OK, This is Lame
31 2008-03-11 18:34 OK, This is Lame
32 2008-03-11 18:36 General Bury
33 2008-03-11 18:53 Duplicate Story
34 2008-03-11 18:53 OK, This is Lame
35 2008-03-11 18:55 General Bury
36 2008-03-11 19:04 Duplicate Story
37 2008-03-11 19:07 General Bury
38 2008-03-11 19:10 Duplicate Story
39 2008-03-11 19:19 General Bury
40 2008-03-11 19:35 Inaccurate
41 2008-03-11 20:08 Inaccurate
42 2008-03-11 20:09 Spam
43 2008-03-11 20:09 Duplicate Story
44 2008-03-11 20:11 General Bury
45 2008-03-11 20:23 General Bury
46 2008-03-11 20:25 General Bury
47 2008-03-11 20:29 Spam
48 2008-03-11 20:32 General Bury
49 2008-03-11 21:53 General Bury
50 2008-03-11 22:18 General Bury
51 2008-03-11 22:32 General Bury
52 2008-03-11 22:37 General Bury
53 2008-03-11 23:17 OK, This is Lame
54 2008-03-12 00:11 Spam
55 2008-03-12 00:48 Spam
56 2008-03-12 01:09 General Bury
57 2008-03-12 03:01 Inaccurate
58 2008-03-12 03:25 OK, This is Lame
59 2008-03-12 03:31 OK, This is Lame
60 2008-03-12 04:01 Spam
61 2008-03-12 04:51 General Bury
62 2008-03-12 04:55 General Bury
63 2008-03-12 06:14 General Bury
64 2008-03-12 06:32 General Bury
65 2008-03-12 09:57 General Bury
66 2008-03-12 10:32 General Bury
67 2008-03-12 14:02 Spam
68 2008-03-12 14:39 General Bury
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This story from torrentfreak.com was submitted 2 times.

Digg story page: BitTorrent Developers Introduce Comcast Busting Encryption
Details: Submitted on Fri, 15 Feb 2008 21:07:34 +0000 by MrBabyMan in Tech Industry News. It was promoted at Sat, 16 Feb 2008 17:50:04 +0000.
Bury Event When Buried Why Buried
1 2008-02-15 23:28 General Bury
2 2008-02-16 01:29 General Bury
3 2008-02-16 01:45 General Bury
4 2008-02-16 03:11 Duplicate Story
5 2008-02-16 03:28 Duplicate Story
6 2008-02-16 05:50 Duplicate Story
7 2008-02-16 07:43 Duplicate Story
8 2008-02-16 11:55 Spam
9 2008-02-16 15:32 Duplicate Story
10 2008-02-16 16:37 General Bury
11 2008-02-16 17:52 Duplicate Story
12 2008-02-16 17:52 Duplicate Story
13 2008-02-16 17:52 General Bury
14 2008-02-16 17:54 Duplicate Story
15 2008-02-16 17:54 General Bury
16 2008-02-16 17:55 Duplicate Story
17 2008-02-16 17:58 General Bury
18 2008-02-16 17:57 General Bury
19 2008-02-16 17:57 Duplicate Story
20 2008-02-16 17:59 General Bury
21 2008-02-16 18:02 Duplicate Story
22 2008-02-16 18:02 Duplicate Story
23 2008-02-16 18:04 General Bury
24 2008-02-16 18:08 Duplicate Story
25 2008-02-16 18:09 General Bury
26 2008-02-16 18:11 Duplicate Story
27 2008-02-16 18:15 Duplicate Story
28 2008-02-16 18:16 Duplicate Story
29 2008-02-16 18:16 Duplicate Story
30 2008-02-16 18:15 Duplicate Story
31 2008-02-16 18:18 General Bury
32 2008-02-16 18:19 Duplicate Story
33 2008-02-16 18:19 Duplicate Story
34 2008-02-16 18:22 Duplicate Story
35 2008-02-16 18:21 Duplicate Story
36 2008-02-16 18:24 Duplicate Story
37 2008-02-16 18:27 Duplicate Story
38 2008-02-16 18:32 Duplicate Story
39 2008-02-16 18:34 Duplicate Story
40 2008-02-16 18:36 Duplicate Story
41 2008-02-16 18:38 Inaccurate
42 2008-02-16 18:39 Duplicate Story
43 2008-02-16 18:38 Inaccurate
44 2008-02-16 18:40 Duplicate Story
45 2008-02-16 18:41 General Bury
46 2008-02-16 18:42 Duplicate Story
47 2008-02-16 18:48 Duplicate Story
48 2008-02-16 18:48 General Bury
49 2008-02-16 18:54 Duplicate Story
50 2008-02-16 18:57 General Bury
51 2008-02-16 19:01 General Bury
52 2008-02-16 19:00 General Bury
53 2008-02-16 19:02 Duplicate Story
54 2008-02-16 19:03 General Bury
55 2008-02-16 19:05 General Bury
56 2008-02-16 19:10 General Bury
57 2008-02-16 19:11 Duplicate Story
58 2008-02-16 19:14 General Bury
59 2008-02-16 19:15 General Bury
60 2008-02-16 19:16 Duplicate Story
61 2008-02-16 19:19 Duplicate Story
62 2008-02-16 19:20 Duplicate Story
63 2008-02-16 19:25 General Bury
64 2008-02-16 19:26 General Bury
65 2008-02-16 19:27 General Bury
66 2008-02-16 19:28 General Bury
67 2008-02-16 19:34 General Bury
68 2008-02-16 19:34 Duplicate Story
69 2008-02-16 19:39 OK, This is Lame
70 2008-02-16 19:41 Spam
71 2008-02-16 19:44 Duplicate Story
72 2008-02-16 19:47 Duplicate Story
73 2008-02-16 20:10 General Bury
74 2008-02-16 20:20 General Bury
75 2008-02-16 20:22 Duplicate Story
76 2008-02-16 20:24 Duplicate Story
77 2008-02-16 20:49 General Bury
78 2008-02-16 21:46 Duplicate Story
79 2008-02-16 21:48 Duplicate Story
80 2008-02-16 21:50 General Bury
81 2008-02-16 21:57 Duplicate Story
82 2008-02-16 22:31 Duplicate Story
83 2008-02-16 23:11 General Bury
84 2008-02-16 23:18 General Bury
85 2008-02-16 23:30 Spam
86 2008-02-16 23:52 Duplicate Story
87 2008-02-17 00:04 Duplicate Story
88 2008-02-17 02:48 Duplicate Story
89 2008-02-17 03:56 Duplicate Story
90 2008-02-17 05:50 Duplicate Story
91 2008-02-17 06:52 General Bury
92 2008-02-17 13:53 General Bury
93 2008-02-17 14:24 General Bury
94 2008-02-17 14:25 General Bury
95 2008-02-17 19:45 General Bury
96 2008-02-18 01:36 General Bury
97 2008-02-18 03:34 Inaccurate
98 2008-02-18 14:21 OK, This is Lame
99 2008-02-18 16:40 Duplicate Story
100 2008-02-18 18:41 General Bury
101 2008-02-19 15:26 General Bury
You need to upgrade your Flash Player
Digg story page: BitTorrent Developers Introduce Comcast Busting Encryption
Details: Submitted on Fri, 15 Feb 2008 21:08:28 +0000 by AcePup in Software. It was promoted at Fri, 15 Feb 2008 23:30:04 +0000.
Bury Event When Buried Why Buried
1 2008-02-15 21:08 Duplicate Story
2 2008-02-16 00:01 General Bury
3 2008-02-16 00:04 OK, This is Lame
4 2008-02-16 00:19 General Bury
5 2008-02-16 05:17 General Bury
6 2008-02-16 06:06 Spam
7 2008-02-16 09:18 General Bury
8 2008-02-16 18:23 Duplicate Story
9 2008-02-18 03:26 General Bury
You need to upgrade your Flash Player


This story from www.msnbc.msn.com was submitted 2 times.

Digg story page: 2 fired over Obama passport file breach
Details: Submitted on Fri, 21 Mar 2008 00:38:31 +0000 by Aidenag in US Elections 2008. It was promoted at Sat, 22 Mar 2008 00:35:55 +0000.

The story has no known buries.

Digg story page: Breach of Obama's passport file leads to firings at St. Dept
Details: Submitted on Fri, 21 Mar 2008 00:40:06 +0000 by sofaKing812 in US Elections 2008. It was promoted at Fri, 21 Mar 2008 02:40:04 +0000.

The story has no known buries.


This story from www.politico.com was submitted 2 times.

Digg story page: BREAKING! Obama raises 2.2 million dollars in 24 hours!
Details: Submitted on Wed, 06 Feb 2008 23:26:08 +0000 by supernovanights in US Elections 2008. It was promoted at Thu, 07 Feb 2008 03:00:09 +0000.
Bury Event When Buried Why Buried
1 2008-02-09 16:46 General Bury
2 2008-02-10 12:48 General Bury
3 2008-02-10 17:35 General Bury
4 2008-02-12 04:09 General Bury
5 2008-02-12 21:17 General Bury
6 2008-02-13 02:01 General Bury
7 2008-02-14 00:54 General Bury
8 2008-02-17 07:36 General Bury
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Digg story page: Obama On Pace To Raise ANOTHER $30 Mil In February
Details: Submitted on Wed, 06 Feb 2008 23:27:05 +0000 by NYC83 in US Elections 2008. It was promoted at Thu, 07 Feb 2008 15:50:03 +0000.

The story has no known buries.


This story from www.tmz.com was submitted 2 times.

Digg story page: Heath Ledger is Dead
Details: Submitted on Tue, 22 Jan 2008 21:47:57 +0000 by audiored in Celebrity. It was promoted at .
Bury Event When Buried Why Buried
1 2008-02-29 02:19 General Bury
2 2008-03-02 23:43 General Bury
3 2008-03-03 05:18 General Bury
4 2008-03-05 03:30 Inaccurate
5 2008-03-09 02:30 General Bury
6 2008-03-09 10:14 OK, This is Lame
7 2008-03-12 16:53 General Bury
8 2008-03-12 20:07 OK, This is Lame
9 2008-03-12 21:16 OK, This is Lame
You need to upgrade your Flash Player
Digg story page: Heath Ledger dead at 28
Details: Submitted on Tue, 22 Jan 2008 21:49:13 +0000 by teitho in Celebrity. It was promoted at Tue, 22 Jan 2008 22:10:12 +0000.

The story has no known buries.


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