The Wired.com interview with Kevin Rose 23 April, 2009 notes by @andresra www.aacosta.com

1. Digg

1.1. Monetization

1.1.1. Digg is working on an advertising and sales model to prepare for switch from Microsoft

1.1.1.1. We're looking at ways people can engage with an ad and have a conversation with a community

1.1.1.2. Challenge

1.1.1.2.1. Brands are being conservative

1.1.1.2.2. Fear of conversation

1.1.2. Microsoft Ad Deal to focus on product, only a year left

1.1.3. Display Ads (only)

1.2. Users

1.2.1. love to vote on things

1.2.2. Pressure users, some are amazing users, not quantity but quality link choices that have an eye for a top quality links that end up on the homepage.

1.2.3. social media has a lot more to offer, not just a standard application

1.2.4. Early adopters, tech influencers

1.2.4.1. how can we get these people involved in bigger challenges.

1.3. Business

1.3.1. Today

1.3.1.1. On track to become a profitable company by the end of this year

1.3.1.2. 35 million unique visitors

1.3.2. What's the outlook?

1.3.2.1. Level the playing field and democratize media.

1.3.2.2. Kevin is the single largest shareholder in Digg and he doesn't need much right now.

1.3.2.3. Facilitate niche interests and give groups of users a place to come together and have a voice (sounds like FriendFeed)

1.3.2.4. future overhauls, new changes are on the way, Kevin is really excited about some announcements on the horizon

1.3.3. Value of Digg

1.3.3.1. plenty of clones have duplicated what Digg has done, only a slightly different

1.3.3.1.1. I don't consider it competition because our community trusts us to deliver more than just features.

1.3.3.2. Timing

1.3.3.2.1. First six months we rode the popularity of Web 2.0

1.3.3.3. Simplicity

1.3.3.3.1. One single action (a click/vote)

1.3.3.4. Homepage

1.3.3.4.1. critical element, the new frontpage that no single media company can compete against.

1.3.4. Kevin just complimented Twitter Search for discovering and exposing trends.

1.3.5. How does social media change the news consumption?

1.3.5.1. Example, Twitter is a great way to push content across the web. Digg leverages this and other platforms to get the word. Don't rely too much on these tools, focus on your website and core brand. It's not about the destination site but about the personal brand of the contributor. This is a new age of personal branding. Om Malik is a great example of how a personal brand can extend and grow independent of one single company. That is what social media provides.

1.3.6. How can digg help save the newspaper industry, powering online papers, advertise their content on Digg?

1.3.6.1. We can't help print but we can help these companies online. We have a great widget offerings.