Thoughts on Digg Meetup Chicago

First off, let me say that I enjoy reading some of the articles posted on Digg… well, I want to emphasize some. It’s a voting system, so there’s a lot of crap stories, and just a few winners here and there. But sometimes those stories are worth it. Sometimes…

Anyway, I went to the Digg Meetup event yesterday with a co-worker and I thought it was just ok. Kevin Rose spoke a little, threw out some free schwag, interacted with the crowd, typical stuff. But the real reason I went was my hopes of hearing something about the Google in final negotiations to acquire Digg for $200 million headline. Which I didn’t hear. Oh and the free schwag, which I also didn’t get. Although a t-shirt did fly by my head, but Smartbar was so dark I couldn’t even see the floor and chair in front of me.

I’m just really curious as to what Google or any Digg staff had to say publicly about this acquisition. Although the digg system is somewhat refreshing, the community and users are not. Too many stories and comments are entered without truly adding to the discussion. There is a way to bury these, which is nice, but again, that is based on their voting system.

Not that I’m saying Digg is like MySpace (which I hate, yes the word is hate). No, in fact I still prefer Digg over the moderated Slashdot.

I just don’t see how this adds any value to what Google has. I like Google News as it is (although it could use a bit of a facelift). Is it for the money? I know Google would be good for Digg, but what does Digg do for Google?

Here is the Digg: Digg’s Chicago Town Hall Pics.

I think their competitors are worth checking out: