They redesigned the website, which was a complete wipe of the service. All your submissions, comments, etc. Gone. That upset a lot of people.
They also changed their algorithm to prioritize paid promotional content over user submitted content, and they created a “power user” class whose content and liked articles would be more likely to reach the front page, too.
Digg is kinda before my time, what did they do to cause the exodus?
It was a combination of factors.
They redesigned the website, which was a complete wipe of the service. All your submissions, comments, etc. Gone. That upset a lot of people.
They also changed their algorithm to prioritize paid promotional content over user submitted content, and they created a “power user” class whose content and liked articles would be more likely to reach the front page, too.