For instance, can anyone tell me what the difference is between ranking and voting for stories, for instance? If 100 people vote a story as one person (star?) does that elevate that story to the front page, where it theoretically gets more exposure?

My idea for this product: forget actual “news.” Integrate the social news engine into the heart and soul of MySpace, the profile experience. Let people vote for and rank profiles, images, blog posts, etc. and make this functionality available through the profile. Let people embed slices/dices of voting results as a widget and I think you’ll have a big winner on your hands.

Seriously, you can get national news anywhere.