June 04, 2009, 10:23 AM — Social news site Digg is introducing an advertisement platform that will allow its users to vote advertisements up and down as they now do with news stories.
Advertisements under the new Digg Ads program will appear with the news stories in the main news flow on Digg.com, and will also have the same "look and feel" as the news stories, said Mike Maser, Digg's chief strategy officer, in a blog post on the company's Web site.
The advertisements will however be clearly identified as sponsored content, Digg said.
Marketers will now get real-time feedback on the performance of their advertising messages, Digg said.
The more an advertisement is approved, or "dugg" in Digg terminology, the less the advertiser will have to pay, Maser said.
Users can also "bury" the advertisements they don't like, and the more an ad is buried, the more the advertiser is charged, pricing it out of the system, according to Maser.
Digg plans to launch the new advertisement program in beta over the next few months with several partners, including Intel and Electronic Arts. Meanwhile, the company plans to continue its current relationship with Microsoft for selling advertising on its site.
The site attracts about 36 million unique visitors a month, according to Digg.
