Digg and Feedly Aim to Collect Users As Google Reader Closes

Google Reader is set to close today, eight years after the popular web-based RSS reader first opened its doors. Digg and Feedly both aim to pick up users who are left high and dry by the closure.

Google announced it planned to shut down Reader in March, citing declining use as the reason for its closure, much to the dismay of users, who immediately started a petition against the decision.

Brian Shih, product manager for Google Reader from September 2008 to July 2011, also criticised Google, claiming that the project was never given the proper resources to grow and thrive.

Google Reader alternatives

Efforts to reverse the decision were ultimately in vain, but at the time of writing, Google Reader was still operational, providing one last chance for users to save their feeds to use in a different RSS reader.

A number of services are hoping to fill the vacuum left by Google Reader’s demise, including Digg, which announced plans for a similar offering a few weeks after Google signed the execution order.

Digg Reader is now live as both a web-based reader and an iOS application, with an Android application to be released in the next few weeks.

The launch has obviously been timed to coincide with the closure of Google Reader, and the developer has promised that features such as ‘view unread items only’ options for feeds of folders, ‘mark as unread’ buttons and accurate counts for feeds and folders will be added as a matter of urgency.

Another service vying for the exodus of users is Feedly, which has transformed from an RSS application to a platform with the launch of the Feedly Cloud. This means that Feedly’s API can be accessed by third-party applications which will be looking to fill the void left by Google Reader.

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