In the same way that LinkedIn is a grownup version of MySpace, Newsvine is sort of like a grown up version of Digg. Newsvine is one of many popular user-driven news/social bookmarking sites that have seen a recent uptrend in popularity. Much like Digg, users submit stories which can then be voted or commented on, moving them up the “vine” and on to the front page.

With a minimalist ultra-sleek, ultra-savvy design, Newsvine delivers the same stories as Digg, just without the sillier infotainment that sometimes graces Digg’s pages. Newsvine makes it easy to “seed” stories with a button that can be dragged onto Firefox’s bookmark toolbar.

Most news sources (i.e. www.cnn.com, www.msnbc.com etc.) get some of their news from the Associated Press (AP), a news wire service. These sites, however, decide what stories you get to see. On Newsvine, there are no editors (aside from the users) so every AP story gets posted.

Another area that makes Newsvine shine is its “yourname.newsvine.com” feature. With your free account you get your own blog-like page where you can write articles, seed links and recommend books, blogs and movies.

Newsvine’s user base is notably smaller than Digg’s; it is however more of an elite press. Newsvine takes a unique approach to the news/social bookmarking phenomenon. Not to say that Digg is less useful, it is just useful for different things. If you are a fan of Digg, then definitely check out Newsvine.