this is more of a “crash course” on what a shout is
this is more of a “crash course” on what a shout is. It isn’t, however, a guide to using the shout feature effectively. There *is* an algorithmic way which you could promote a story very effectively. Although I don’t use it myself (I don’t submit much, and really don’t have much free time), I am not going to post it here, because seriously, it doesn’t appear as though you have used it enough to figure out how it would be accomplished.
and plus, the Digg algorithm is designed to put less influence of the digg of a mutual friend. They did that, so that better quality content would reach the front page. The best way to reach the front page is to HAVE quality content. Shouting is just to get your digg count up high enough that the people who are looking for quality content will find it, and digg.