Google is reportedly ready to purchase the Digg Web site for $200 million. The search giant could beef up its news service with Digg, where readers choose and vote on stories from around the Web.

The rumors began about a week ago when images on Web sites suggested Google was checking voting methods.

Some reports say Google could complete the acquisition of Digg within two weeks, and Microsoft is said to be waiting in the wings whether Google doesn’t seal the deal. Digg has a three-year deal with Microsoft that would likely end whether the search giant absorbs the popular news site.

“This rumor has been around for a couple of months. But that is the most concrete version of the rumor,” said Greg Sterling, principal analyst at Sterling Market Intelligence. “Digg seems to be trying to create some sort of bidding for the company in order to get the highest return.”

Digg Evolution

Digg describes itself

as a place for folks to discover and share subject matter from anywhere on the Web. From the biggest online destinations to the most obscure blog, Digg claims to surface the best subject matter as determined by user votes. Digg doesn’t employ editors, but relies on its community to determine the most worthy headlines.

Diggers can push news, videos, images and podcasts. Once substance is submitted, other society see it and vote on what they like best. Submissions that receive the most diggs are promoted to the site’s front page for millions of visitors to read. There is additionally a social-networking aspect as users launch conversations around stories.

“Digg is trying to evolve from a social news site into a ‘recommendation engine’ which uses the potential of the community to promote convinced kinds of results higher or to use that crowd wisdom to identify what are the best or most relevant…

Original post by Top Tech News