Christian Selig, known for developing the third-party Reddit client Apollo, has joined Digg as an advisor.

This comes as Digg’s original founder, Kevin Rose, and Reddit co-founder, Alexis Ohanian, work to revamp the platform.

Selig gained attention in 2023 after Apollo shut down due to Reddit’s increased API pricing.

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🔗 Source: TechCrunch

🧠 Food for thought

1️⃣ Historic rivals joining forces signals shift in social media landscape

The collaboration between Digg founder Kevin Rose and Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian represents a notable shift in the social media landscape, considering these platforms were once competitors.

At its peak around 2008-2009, Digg boasted 30-40 million monthly active users and pioneered the content voting system that allowed communities to curate front pages, which influenced Reddit’s eventual design 1.

Adding Christian Selig to this team brings together leaders from three influential community platforms (Digg, Reddit, and Apollo), combining expertise from both the platform ownership and third-party developer perspectives.

This reunion comes as Reddit has grown to 1.1 billion monthly active users in 2025, representing 27% year-over-year growth and establishing itself as one of the most visited sites on the internet 2.

The trio’s collaboration suggests a deliberate focus on community-first thinking that prioritizes user experience over engagement metrics, as highlighted by Digg’s CEO Justin Mezzell.

2️⃣ The cyclical evolution of community-driven platforms

Digg’s reboot represents the latest turn in social media’s shift between algorithm-dominated feeds and community-curated content, echoing its original 2004 mission to democratize content discovery.

The original Digg collapse in 2010 following its controversial v4 redesign led to a massive user exodus to Reddit, demonstrating how platform changes that ignore community preferences can trigger rapid decline 1.

Nearly 15 years later, with global social media adoption reaching 5.24 billion users (63.9% of the world population), there appears to be growing demand for alternatives to algorithm-driven content distribution 3.

This revival comes amid broader industry trends showing users spending an average of 6 hours and 38 minutes online daily, with younger demographics particularly valuing authentic social connections over passive content consumption 3.

The strong initial interest in Digg’s relaunch—with 190,000 clicks on the upvote button on its homepage—suggests significant appetite for community-curated alternatives in today’s social media landscape 4.

3️⃣ API relationships reshape platform ecosystems and user experiences

Selig’s appointment highlights the strategic importance of developer relationships, coming after his Apollo app shutdown spotlighted tensions between platforms and third-party developers who enhance their ecosystems.

The Reddit API controversy that forced Apollo to close demonstrated how platform policies directly impact user experience. Apollo’s closure disappointed millions of users who preferred its enhanced interface to Reddit’s official app 5.

By bringing Selig aboard, Digg signals a potential shift in how platforms might approach their relationship with developers, potentially embracing rather than restricting third-party innovation.

This move comes as social media platforms increasingly recognize the value of user experience over pure engagement metrics. Trends in 2025 show successful platforms focusing on “micro-virality” and community-specific engagement rather than broad reach 6.

The collaboration suggests Digg may be positioning itself as a more open platform that values developer contributions, contrasting with Reddit’s approach that prioritized direct monetization of its API.

Recent Digg developments

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