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With the evolution of Digg.com, we can see a new technology evolving. Digg combines social Bookmarking, Blogging, RSS, and non-hierarchical editorial control. Unlike most news portals and websites, with Digg, it is the user that submit stories, reviews them and decides which stories go on the homepage, not an editor.

Since the introduction of Digg, already there has been a comparison made by an article done by Wired: ‘Digg Just Might Bury Slashdot‘. Now, the tables have been turned on Digg! There is a new Bookmarking/Blogging site very similar to Digg that is gaining strength. Where Digg focuses on Technology, Shoutwire - which is very similar to Digg- now has a broader range of topics that you can "Shout" instead of "Digg". Will this Bookmarking site feel the heat of Digg or give it a run for its money?

Comparison of Digg.com and Shoutwire.com categories

Digg.com (categories to submit to = 16):
apple - deals - design - gaming - hardware - links - linux/unix - mods - movies - music - programming - robots - science - security - software - technology

Shoutwire.com (categories to submit to = 56):
Technology (11)
Apple - Design - Gaming - General - Hardware - Linux - P2P - Programming - Science (Space) - Security - Software

Business (5)
General - Jobs Economy - Markets Stocks Funds - Personal Finance - Technology

Sports (15)
Autos - Boxing - College Basketball - College Football - General - Golf - Horse Racing - MLB - NBA - NFL - NHL - Poker - Tennis - US Soccer - WNBA

Politics (4)
General - Law  (Justice) - US - World

Entertainment (8)
Books - Gaming - General - Movies - Music - Oddly Enough - Pets (Animals) -TV

Lifestyle (6)
Conditions - Dating - Diet Fitness - General - Parenting - Technology

Weather (3)
General - US - World

Education (4)
General - History - US - World - TV

As you can see, Digg.com has 16 categories to post to. Most of these categories are centered around IT and technology. Shoutwire.com, having a larger number of categories and a broader range of areas to submit to, will make it easier for a larger population to find a category to post news and links to. To many, this feature will be an attractive one to those who wanted to use a technology such as Digg.com, but had other areas of articles outside of the technology world to share.

The battle between he two will rage on. There defiantly has been no love lost between the two websites. When Shoutwire.com first opened in November, 2005, many Digg.com enthusiasts did not like to see Shoutwire.com gaining any success. There was a lot of hate posts on Shoutwire. Shoutwire even found a way to somewhat block it. For example: If you post an article on Shoutwire.com with "Digg" in the URL, you get this message: * You have specified an illegal keyword (digg). Evidentially the rage between the two sites became even more fueled. Now, on Digg.com if you submit an article with "Shoutwire" in the URL, you get this message: This URL has been reported by users and cannot be submitted at this time.

The comparison of the two sites are a hot topic. Although many see a resemblance between the two - Digg and Shoutwire, the creator of Shoutwire states that the two have a completely different backend by using ASP.NET and MS SQL Server. In "An Insider Interview with Justin Bunnell of ShoutWire.com", Justin states that the concept of Shoutwire actually came from from our voting system developed for our other site SpikedHumor.com and uses the code from that system.

Another difference that seems to be very noticeable are the stances the audience takes on self submissions. Whereas the Digg.com audience seems to frown upon self submission, ShoutWire.com on the other hand does not see anything wrong with it as long as the submission does not lead to spam.

So, where does that leave the two? It seems that Shoutwire.com - being a brand new site - has the edge when it comes to number of categories to submit to, and the wider scope of readers that will visit the site. But, on the other hand, the technological minded who have been around Digg.com from the beginning might view it as having a narrower field for submission will give it the edge on the idea that there is a more specific course for this website. Either way, only time can tell how these type of website will do in the end. The simple idea that the readers decide what goes on the front page of the website might even give other news and Blogging sites something they should take a look at.