We had Wikio, the so-called Digg of Europe. Now, we have Ningin, which is a social news site for anything related to Asian people and culture. It allows users to submit, rate, and discover new and interesting Asian media stuff. Ningin’s co-founder Hoc Poeng says for the site, ‘Ningin is niche version of Digg for the Asian related news and content.’
Ningin says ‘Size Doesn’t Matter, It’s How You Use It.’
They have no plans to compare themselves to any of the sites that have a huge reserve of information. Instead, their main emphasis was to build a good system where the user can find what he or she is looking for. For the very purpose, they have “Item Browser” both at the Frontpage and the Backpage. Results there are ordered by highest level levels of activity.
Ningin vs. Digg:
Well, Ningin has a more social inclination than Digg, as it brings in more interactive functionality for its users. Moreover, they say they are using a more involved ranking algorithm than Digg and even respects the lowest ranked stories via the ‘Back page’ tab.
The most differentiating thing is that while Digg shows the actual number of votes on a story, Ningin uses a color-coded, five-star ranking system for each bookmark. Now, that is interesting as it will at least not lead to something like Digg Gaming.
Interestingly, Ningin offers over 150 cool award icons to recognize the efforts of the users and the top scores will be given additional features. Sounds cool!
If you are an enthusiast photographer, you can try your hands at the Ningin private Photo Gallery where you can upload as many photos as you want. The focus on images and graphics keeps Ningin at an advantage over Digg thereby giving it the perfect social site slooks.
I must say that these guys have got a very appealing lively design that will certainly lure users. I must say that they have done too good in the designing part if we compare it with Wikio.
My Take:
Well, Ningin will likely appeal to its target audience, thanks to the sleek designs and extensive features. Anyway, they have just initiated the journey and it will be interesting to see how the people are going to take it. Personally, I think they have done a great job and wish them all the best.
