Cynics allege that Web 2.0 is in a perpetual state of beta, but the newest version of Digg.com spent only 3 weeks in beta before opening up for full public use today. The new Digg is most notable for including news categories beyond tech. During the beta period non-tech sections of the site were restricted to logged in users, a group that was surely dominated by geeks already using the tech section of the site. Apparently that will change today. In a sense then, today marks the beginning of the experiment – will the general public be interested in voting on news on a wide variety of topics? If the tepid response to the new Netscape experiment with digg-like features, and the ensuing backlash by long time users there are any indication – it’s not a sure thing.
For more background on Digg, check out Mike’s interview with the site’s founders when this newest version launched.