Digg has brought in Matt Williams, formerly of Amazon, to be its new CEO, replacing Kevin Rose.
Williams has worked for Amazon for the past 11 years. His most recent position at Amazon was as general manager for Consumer Payments.
He will replace Rose, who had been acting as Digg’s interim CEO after its previous CEO Jay Adelson stepped down in April.
Rose has stated he will “remain actively involved in the product” but is handing over “day-to-day running of the business” to Williams.
Digg has also announced a series of upgrades to its site, which include improving overall usability and adding timestamps to posts. They intend to bring back the upcoming stories section and will improve their user recommendations section.
These updates follow its recent overhaul, where it made social networking a heavy focus for the site.
Many of Digg’s users have revolted against the change, posting links to Reddit on Digg’s site, their main competitor.
“I know it has been a wild past week since the launch of our new platform,” Rose said in regards to the controversy.
“Introducing change is never easy, and bringing something as radically different as Digg version 4 was bound to generate a strong reaction.
“We are absolutely listening and really value everyone’s feedback as we take Digg in new directions.”
Williams is excited about his new position. “The launch of version 4 was a big moment for Digg and I believe in the potential of this new platform,” said Williams.
“There is so much innovation yet to come – being the best in the world at curating news means solving the information overload we all experience every day.
“The Digg team has already made great strides in this direction and there is much more ahead. I’m excited to join such a talented team and such a vibrant Digg community,” he said.
