A TechCrunch reader submits the screenshot above showing a user voted Digg advertisement for IHOP. As far as we know, this is the first time this has been seen in the wild.
The ads were first announced last month as a new type of advertising platform. The more users who digg on the ad, the less the advertiser has to pay. The more it is buried, the more the advertiser has to pay, eventually pricing it out of the system.
Here’s the interesting thing. Digg says they are internally testing Digg Ads and confirm that IHOP is one of the ads Digg employees see. But no one outside of Digg’s offices are supposed to see them yet. They give no explanation as to why this person sees the ad, but do confirm it is an accurate screenshot.
They’ve been working on this product for a long time – we first reported rumors of it in late 2008.
Anyone else see these? Send a screenshot to tips@techcrunch. Thanks, Mohamoud, for sending this.