Kevin Rose has announced Digg has decided to drop Google in favor of a 3-year exclusive deal with Microsoft.

Hey everyone ? I wanted to give you a heads-up before the official announcement is made later today. We?ve signed on Microsoft as our new partner to sell and serve the ads on Digg. It?s a deal similar to the one Facebook signed with Microsoft last year.

This move gives us an advertising partner with a larger organization and a more scalable technology platform to keep pace with Digg?s growth. Best of all, it lets the Digg team completely focus on new feature development. Federated Media, which has been an awesome partner for the last year and a half, will continue working with Digg focusing on integrated sponsorships and custom programs like the Arc project in labs.

Just a heads-up that if you happen to visit the newly launched MySpace Mexico, your future visits to MySpace may well default to Spanish.

Imagine my surprise to find this waiting for me at www.MySpace.com…

The 2008 presidential election has the potential to claim the largest voter turnout in more than a 100 years, thanks to social media. With a spotlight already shining on the search engine reputation of candidates, and many hopefuls already blogging, we learn than CNN has partnered with YouTube for two upcoming presidential debates.

On July 23 at 7pm ET, CNN will air questions recorded at YouTube –  the first time the general public will have a chance to ask a question in a debate.

While, the questions will be carefully screened, and chosen by CNN’s political team, this is a huge step in creating a radically transparent election. As we draw closer to November 2008, the candidates will realize – especially the underdogs – that social media allows them to reach voters on a more personal level.

hi5 may not be high up on your social networking radar – it barely registers a blip on mine - but that might change with the company receiving $20 million in its first round of venture capital.

According to Om Malik:

Hi5, a San Francisco-based social networking start-up is said to have raised about $20 million in its latest round of funding. The VC firm involved in this round of funding is said to be Mohr Davidow Ventures…The company co-founded by Ramu Yalamanchi, started out as a social-network-plus matrimonial site targeting the Indian diaspora, but later morphed into a social network, and since then has gained popularity in some Latin American countries, Mongolia, Tunisia and Romania.