Google is expanding their tremendous line of online services, with the introduction of a Digg clone feature they are calling, cleverly enough, "What's Popular?". The very new service, similar to Digg, will allow users to rate news articles (among other things), contributing to their popularity - good stories will rise, bad stories will fall. It goes a little bit beyond just a plain ratings system though, and does incorporate user relevance, so that you don't end up seeing the top rated stories for categories you don't care about.

Google is including a host of other methods to sort as well, such as age, additional content and more. They're also incorporating means to add other type of data to stories, like a video or an image, on top of just a short description. They also play up the ability for the service to be used in conjunction with a mobile device, with "What's Popular" being used to trim down what you end up reading on your phone.

Don't feel alone if it seems a bit overwhelming and on the complicated side. However, given that Google walked away from a Digg buyout in the middle of last year, it seems they are intent on competing with them. Is there room for a Digg competitor?