Digg Dialogg kicks off with Nancy Pelosi at Democratic Convention

Do you ever feel like politicians get an easy ride, never getting asked the questions we want them to be asked? If so, then Digg Dialogg may be for you. Or it could just turn out to be another social media site acting like it knows what is best for us all.

Digg funder Kevin Rose today announced Digg Dialogg, which takes the fundamental idea behind Digg: that cream rises to the top, and applies it to the idea of interviewing important individuals such as politicians.

Once a victim guest has been announced, anyone with a Digg account can submit a question to that person. The Digg algorithm then kicks in, with everyone else Digging each question up and down as they see fit. The top rated questions will then be put to the interviewee live on camera.

Digg Dialogg is beginning with the political party conventions, and in a partnership with iReport will first be putting House Speaker Nancy Pelosi in the hot seat at the Democratic National Convention in Denver on Wednesday August 27th.

I applaud several aspects of this idea. First of all it should allow the average person on the street (at least those who happen to have a Digg account) a chance to question those in authority. It also means Digg is breaking out of its current business model for the first time and actually producing content rather than living off other people’s.

I had my doubts about the actual process of questions being Dugg up and down, as we’ve all seen how stories can be artificially promoted or relegated by a handful of Diggers with influential friends. But judging by the questions currently sitting atop the pile, it does seem that the gems are making their way up the charts.

Of course, Digg aren’t the first social media site to try and engage their users by getting involved with politicians, but this may the first to actually entice me in to taking part. I want to see the politicians and people in power squirm at being asked the awkward questions that the media will avoid asking out of fear of being cut out of the loop in the future.

The first interview with Pelosi should therefore prove to be an interesting spectacle, but the future of Digg Dialogg will depend on the quality of the guests and the interest shown by your average Digger. Which, as anyone who uses Digg on a regular basis, is never guaranteed.

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