Rumour has it that Google is going to team up with Digg to punish people who continually submit their sites to Digg just to get a PR boost.
A lot of people think the rumour is false but it is interesting nonetheless. Links from Digg are not editorially given – it’s pretty much just a free for all – so there is no reason for Google to count them.
The only time a link should count is when it hits the front page. Perhaps Digg should be nofollowing all the other links?
Remember that the aim of Digg isn’t to get links from Digg, it’s to get links from Digg readers websites.
I think it all falls apart when we hear the word ‘penalty’. At very least Google would put dampening filter on social media links or nuke the valuations of certain types of link profiles. That is the more likely route IMO. When we see a story claiming Google penalties…. be wary.