I am ashamed to admit it, but I think I'm friends with a Digg Robot. Ever since we released the Digg Friend Finder we've gotten tons of "friends" requests on Digg. And unlike a lot of people who just click "yes" I like to look at the people who want to be my friend. (This is probably some Freudian leftover from High School and cruel practical jokes.)

Super Hot Chicks Make Me Suspicious

Like with all those pretty women who want to be my facebook friends (Calling Mr. Spitzer!) I was startled to see Susan's friend request. Ok, I don't look like my picture of Clint but I'm at least an older guy, but a picture of pretty girl on the internet always brings the comic book guy from The Simpsons to mind.

So I decided to look at Susan's profile. Hmmm:

• Member for two months
• 981 "friends"
• 3 fans
• All diggs on one topic: Bottled Water

Sock Puppet or Robot?

That is a very good question. What's the difference? Well, the Wikipedia guys have a pretty good take on it - a sock puppet is a "fake" third party making statements on behalf of a principal in a controversy. Now, I don't think there is any controversy about clean water, so she's for sure not a sock puppet.

Robot or Avatar or....

If you spend 10 seconds looking at my activity you'll see that i work at Promote-My-Site, and unless you're from someplace far-far-away you'll figure out that my picture is some kind of inside joke and not meant to imply that I'm actually King Clint. You'll also notice that I'm very interested in Social Networking, Social Bookmarking, and Social Media in general. I also like videos of dogs biting people at family a get together. (Some kids never really grow up.)

But when you look at Susan and her lack of profile and her mono-focus on bottled water, you have to think - Mister Roboto. But there are some comments in there too, so clearly someone has put some time into mixing human interaction into their robot's travels through digg.

So I'm going to call for a new category: Android.

Susan, if you're really just a extra-pretty intern at a bottled water company who is extra-diligent and focused on promoting your employer, I apologize for the Asimovian smears. But, if you're just a well built android sailing under the radar of the Digg Bury Brigade, well, then I salute your creator.