Tech Shout!

The hugely popular Web 2.0 news aggregator Digg has ditched search giant Google for an exclusive advertising deal with Microsoft. Under this deal, the Redmond giant will become the exclusive provider of display and contextual advertising on Digg.

In case you are out of contact with the Web world, the site Digg.com is a new site on which the most important stories are promoted based on user votes which have come to be known as “digs”.

Microsoft will use its own ad platform called AdCenter to display advertisements on Digg.com. AdCenter is very similar to rival Google’s AdWords.

The agreement between Microsoft and Digg.com has been signed for the next three years. According to a press statement, the two companies will work together on future technology and advertising initiatives.

Steve Berkowitz, senior vice president of the Online Services Group at Microsoft said, “Our collaboration with Diff is about bringing our advertising technology and sales force to one of the fastest growing sites on the web and a true innovator in user-generated content.

“We believe advertisers will welcome Microsoft and Digg’s combined strengths to forge more meaningful connections online,” he added.

Digg co-founder Kevin Rose said in a blog post that the decision to go with Microsoft was made because of the size of the company and its technology.

This agreement with Digg.com may be very crucial to Microsoft as a means to promote its AdCenter initiative. Currently, Digg.com has around 17 million monthly visitors.