Hacker News Reader

1) this is the first release, after only 6 weeks 2) they are working on comments

more on their blog http://blog.digg.com/post/28441399381/welcome-to-digg-v1

1) By using FB, at least initially, they can lower signup friction and get a good bit of social momentum. Especially if users are sharing their "diggs" publicly. Doesn't appeal to hackers, but it works when done tastefully.

2) Discussion on digg was always a bit janky. HN really spoils the idea of social links/comments because they are so high quality here, but when you're targeting the average person, its harder to control quality. Let people sound of on Twitter/FB, and you've created a new marketing vector without directly polluting the experience on your site.

To be fair, most of the stories on the front page of digg before this most recent redesign had 0 comments anyways, so they probably realized they could push out that feature a bit.