The gaming of Digg is big business, says USocial CEO.

USocial lets advertisers buy votes on popular social bookmarking sites to catapult their links to sections of Digg, StumbleUpon or AOL's Propeller services that get the most visibility.

In Digg's case, a submission that receives enough votes from its users (or with a little help from uSocial's dozen employees) will reach the coveted front page, which can drive tens of thousands of visitors in a matter of hours. [...]

Clients pay $105 to $200 to kick-start a Digg submission, ensuring 100 to 250 votes. Digg is by far the top target, attracting about 60% of purchases, uSocial says. StumbleUpon gets 35% and Propeller (the least trafficked but cheapest option) gets 5%.

The gaming of Digg for profit has been going on for years, as the visibility of a story that gets voted to the front page -- legitimately or otherwise -- can bring many thousands of visitors in exit traffic. However, it's only been more recently that companies are being open about their strategies on how they're doing with this, with some like USocial baldly asserting that they accept money for paid votes on social media websites.

In other Digg-related news, there's speculation that the social news company is producing a browser tool bar that empowers social media activity.

The new feature is designed not only to submit your favorite content to Digg, but also to make it easier to share "Diggs" across your other social media identities. The new Digg bar will let you share content through Twitter, Facebook, e-mail, and Digg Shout, and features a "Random" service that suggests other Digg stories you might like. A Digg-style Tiny URL has also been added so you don't crowd your Tweets with lengthy web addresses, and of course Digg stats will be displayed for the current web page you're visiting.

Do you think that USocial's activities with regard to Digg are legitimate?