Results: What topics are most often discussed on Digg? (cont'd)

In analyzing these results, the following inferences were made:

• Digg, being the most popular topic of discussion, was a result of the site’s rebranding and backlash in August 2010. Posts regarding build-up, launch, complaints and bug fixes account for many of these instances.

• Barack Obama is heavily favoured on the site, with almost all stories on him being positive. This suggests the Digg population slants toward liberal politics.

• Fox, Sarah Palin and Bill O’Reilly are all derided by Digg users; most of the stories involving them are all negative. In fact, many of the posts mentioning Jon Stewart (who is highly favoured), feature him criticising Fox, Sarah Palin and Bill O’Reilly.
  
  
• Digg users love Apple. Many stories involving Apple, the iPhone or Steve Jobs feature much praise, and borderline fanboyism (extreme fandom).
  
  
• Wikileaks was extremely salient in December and January, and then fell off Digg’s front page almost completely. This could be a result of media oversaturation/fatigue.
  
  
• Marijuana’s appearance on the front page is the result of support for California Proposition 19 – the failed ballot initiative that would have legalized marijuana. From this, we can assume that most of Digg is in favour of Prop 19.