Google Gives Up On Digg

As reported on TechCrunch, Google has decided to walk away from the proposed deal with Digg. Once again, this is from TechCrunch, so you sort of have to wonder about Michael Arrington’s sources. However, I am glad for both parties that Google decided to walk away from this deal.

Google was obviously not in this for the technology end of things. Digg hasn’t exactly been fantastic about ironing out new features before rolling them out. They also have flipped on many things, such as the constant changes in commenting.

So why would Google want to spend almost $200 million on Digg? The only possible answer is the community. But is it worth that much money? I, like a good deal of users, have not been using Digg as much lately because it is just too easy to manipulate it. It has also makes tweaks in how entries are handled. It is just not as useful as it once was. So what happens when the generally fickle Web users find something better?

I’m sure the real reason why Google walked away from this is somewhere between just not having a good fit with Digg’s higher-ups and realizing it is just not worth it. Digg is still being shopped around, so we will see where this will go.