Digg Announces Plans to Fill Google Reader Void

By: Gilbert Falso :: 2:41 PM

Social sharing website Digg announced this afternoon that it will build an RSS reader platform to fill the void left after Google sunsets its Google Reader product later this year.

“We hope to identify and rebuild the best of Google Reader’s features (including its API), but also advance them to fit the Internet of 2013, where networks and communities like Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, Reddit and Hacker News offer powerful but often overwhelming signals as to what’s interesting,” the company said in a blog post.

Digg’s goal is to have the news reader ready to go by the time Google pulls the plug on Google Reader – set for July 1, 2013. The company had planned to build a reader product in the second half of 2013, but the impending Google Reader shutdown date has moved that deadline up several months.

In order to complete a reader product in a short window of time, Digg is asking the Internet community to get involved in the project. “We need your input on what you want to see in a reader. What problems should it solve for you? What’s useful? What isn’t? What do you wish it could do that it can’t today?” they ask.

Not only is Digg looking for user input, they’re also looking for development assistance, and pointed to their jobs website where there are openings posted for an engineer and an Android developer.