Somewhere, Digg founder Kevin Rose is probably smirking over a pint of Guinness as Netscape Director Tom Drapeau announced the end of the company's Digg-clone experiment. Drapeau said, "we specifically heard that our users do have a desire for a social news experience, but simply didn't expect to find it on Netscape.com." The original shift from traditional news to a Digg-like experience was initiated by former AOL/Weblogs Inc. exec Jason Calacanis (currently heading Mahalo).
Although some criticized Calacanis for the switch, it clearly raised the site's profile and led to Netscape suddenly being mentioned in the same conversations as the more popular Digg (a situation which eventually resulted in some playful Netscape sniping from Rose on DiggNation).
Netscape abandoning the social news model could be looked at as 1) the first signs of the format's demise, or more likely 2) a return to less risk taking at AOL as it struggles to define itself under new management. It's reasonable to wonder if Calacanis' recent tip that cuts were coming to AOL might somehow be linked to the new changes at the site he spent so much time remodeling. (Thus, don't be surprised if Calacanis launches a Mahalo Digg-clone soon.) Either way, today Rose has one less Digg competitor to worry about.
Photo: ojbyrne
