How do web 2.0 startups... start?

Looking at sites like Digg, I have to wonder, how do companies like these get off the ground?
It's not really useful until a lot of people are using it (in order to submit stories, digg them, write comments, etc.), but why would somebody use it unless it has stories, etc.

Basically, how do sites like these hit critical mass?

I guess that they begin by being a novelty, and possibly become slashdotted or something at some point.

Fake users.

Even if you have 100 fake users, you still need comments and stories. That'd be a lot of work for one real user.

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Originally Posted by CrazyNorman

Even if you have 100 fake users, you still need comments and stories. That'd be a lot of work for one real user.

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You can hire monkeys on RentACoder.com to write comments on your blogs. Sick, but true.

Quote:

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You can hire monkeys on RentACoder.com to write comments on your blogs. Sick, but true.

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You can also outsource skilled educated programmers with uneducated $2 programmers from there too.