A Digg Reader Is On Its Way

Digg to the rescue?

As Google Reader fans freaked out over the announcement that their beloved RSS reader would die in July, social-news site Digg on Thursday said it would build a replacement. The new RSS feed is part of the site's longterm reinvention, Digg explained in a blog post on Thursday.

The Digg reader, which has yet to be named, is set for release sometime after June. The big question is: Who will use it? Google said it was seeing declining use of its Reader service; it also wanted to push the remaining Google Reader users over to its kinda empty social network Google+.

Although in 2013 most Internet-users tend to use Twitter to get access to multiple news sources at once, there are a few important niche groups who currently rely heavily on Google Reader. The list of people who use Google Reader includes journalists and bloggers, who need to efficiently scan for news and interesting pieces that Twitter might not find.

But even more critical: RSS feeds are a useful end-run around blocked websites. That's important to people who have sites blocked at their workplaces and, of critical need to those living under repressive governments, as Quartz points out.

Many Iranians were understandably upset at the news of Google Reader's demise, as they used Reader to get around government Internet censorship, Quartz reports.

Hopefully Digg's Reader replacement will be available in nations with strict Internet censorship laws.

If you have any suggestions for Digg in their pursuit of the perfect RSS reader, you are encouraged to share them. Digg has created a mailing list for updates on the project and and to share insights with the Digg team.