As seen on Twitter, Flickr, and Techcrunch, Digg is planning to release a new toolbar to directly compete with Stumbleupon. Digg is currently in beta mode, but I’m sure new features will be rolled out with the new toolbar. This toolbar will have some great features including:

• Digg and Bury – Just like the Stumbleupon’s toolbar, you’ll be able to Digg or Bury the webpage you are on. It also shows how many Diggs the page currently has.
• Related Pages – To increase page views per visit Diggs has a button to Digg related stories.
• Source – Digg allows you to vote for other pages from the same “source” domain.
• Random – Just like the “stumble” button on the Stumbleupon toolbar, you’ll be directed to a randomly-generated bases on your past voting behaviors. As you can see in the above screenshot, Digg is trying to highlight this feature.
• Share – Users will be able to share their story via Facebook, Twitter, email via icons on the right side of the toolbar. A drop down menu will allow additional functionality.
• Shorten URLS – Just as Tinyurl, Digg plans to release a url shortening functionality with this toolbar. As seen on the screenshot below, the URL has been shortened to
  “http://digg.com/d1gVha.” When you share this page via Twitter, Facebook, or any other social network the Digg URL will populate as opposed to the original URL. The Digg window will act as a large iframe around the original webpage. You can shorten any URL instantly by adding “http://digg.com/” to the beginning of the original URL. I believe this function will be added the the toolbar before is released.

Discussion

Do you think Digg really needs to target Stumbleupon? Both websites have different purposes. Digg is for time-sensitive news, while Stumbleupon is for interesting web pages and resources. I would say targeting other social news networks likes Reddit, Propeller, Mixx, and Yahoo Buzz is a better strategy.

Will you use the Stumbleupon toolbar or Digg toolbar? I’ll stick to using the Stumbleupon toolbar because I feel its easier to submit, and discover new pages. Stumbleupon’s toolbar functionality is great, and I don’t think Digg can surpass its user friendly interface. You can choose the category or tag you’re searching for easy and quick. Until Digg provides more functionality to their toolbar I will stir away from it. I believe the Digg toolbar will be used primarily by active Digg users and not somebody who visits or submits on occasion.