Users Revolt After Digg Censors DVD Hackers

Forbes list includes Digg, Twitter, TechCrunch, Mashable founders

(NEWSER) - When it comes to Internet celebrity, Perez Hilton tops the list. The gossip blogger excels in all of Forbes ' criteria, including hits on Google, page views, media saturation, and Twitter followers. Each person on the list must be famous primarily for their Web presence. Herewith, the rest of the top 5 of the top 25:

2. Michael Arrington: The corporate lawyer is also the founder of widely read tech blog TechCrunch. "A mere mention of a company on its pages can make or break a startup."

Data analysis tells you words to use and when to build your brand

(NEWSER) - You might think all you need to do to get your 140-character gems rebroadcast on Twitter is make them, well, good. Wrong. Fast Company looks at some data-proven tips from Hubspot's Dan Zarrella:

• Links work—If they're the right links: Retweets (or RTs) are three times more likely to have links than the general field, but use the right URL shortener. Newer services such as bit.ly are tops; old standby TinyURL is out to pasture.

Online outlets mull pay models, putting a price on sensational stories

(NEWSER) - Word is that newspapers will soon start charging for online news—but no one’s quite sure what it’s worth. Take a story like the Jaycee Dugard kidnapping: It’s “tragedy porn” that “neither informs nor enlightens. It merely titillates,” writes Simon Dumenco for Advertising Age. “It's an extreme case, sure,” he notes, but infotainment seems to be a growing proportion of the news. Are we willing to pay for it? More»

Election pulls big traffic —and big discontent among nerderati

(NEWSER) - With election season in full swing, the political junkies have come for Digg.com, making Hillary, Barack, et. al. fixtures on the social news site. That’s been great for traffic, but it’s also angered the tech nerd early adopters who made Digg a success, CNET reports. At a recent “town hall” webcast, questions flooded in complaining about the political news. More»

Tech blog founder says social news sites too easily manipulated

(NEWSER) - Social news sites like Digg don’t work, says Slashdot founder Rob Malda, and Ron Paul is Exhibit A. “A lot of these community news sites are all about Ron Paul,” Malda told the New York Times. “What that is really demonstrating is that you are seeing 1 or 2 percent of a community shaping where the whole community is going.” More»