Over the last 90 days, the Digg engineering team — all 5 of them — has been heads-down building an updated take on the RSS reader. For our first public release, in time to (just) beat the shutdown of Google Reader, our aim has been to nail the basics: a web and mobile reading experience that is…
Click above for screenshots of the anticipated Google Reader replacement.
Like many of you, we were dismayed to learn that Google will be shutting down its much-loved, if under-appreciated, Google Reader on July 1st. Through its many incarnations, Google Reader has remained a solid and reliable tool for those who want to ensure they are getting the best from their favorite sections of the Internet. And though they were not wholly appreciated at the time, Reader’s early social features were forward-thinking and hugely useful.
We’ve heard people say that RSS is a thing of the past, and perhaps in its current incarnation it is, but as daily (hourly) users of Google Reader, we’re convinced that it’s a product worth saving. So we’re going to give it our best shot. We’ve been planning to build a reader in the second half of 2013, one that, like Digg, makes the Internet a more approachable and digestible place. After Google’s announcement, we’re moving the project to the top of our priority list. We’re going to build a reader, starting today. [read more]
Anyone notice how freaking awesome Digg has gotten since it got sold to the Betaworks folks? Just saying. They have one of the best daily emails and they’re killing it on the content front. It’s not the same company and it doesn’t spread content the same way, but maybe that’s a good thing because it doesn’t piss you off as much as Digg Mark 2010 did.
Now they’re creating a Google Reader replacement. Awesome.
After being sold for half a million dollars to Betaworks earlier this year, Digg is looking at something of a revival according to a new report from Buzzfeed. The once-mighty referral site, which was a precursor to the now ultra-popular Reddit, has fallen on hard times in recent years, but it looks like a summer relaunch has righted the ship (at least slightly) for Digg, which now refers a million hits to Buzzfeed Network sites — after a full reboot into a human-curated news site. Do you use the new Digg? (Photo via Buzzfeed) source
Well played, old friend.
Digg: Riding the coattails of the stuff its awesome competitor is doing these days. For jokes. Good ones! But still, just for jokes.
Thoughts on Betaworks’ relaunched Digg? Pretty polished, simple, much more visual, not listy at all. The thumbs-up is still there, but it’s de-emphasized. No comments, but they’re apparently coming. A complete clean slate, with a thrown-away code base. Is Digg better without Kevin Rose? Was Betaworks’ half-million purchase of the site worth it? And would you use it again?
The Wall Street Journal reports the price tag being in the vicinity of $500,000, but TechCrunch is already disputing that figure. That’s pretty low considering that a Business Week report infamously valued the company over $200 million six years ago. According to the report, Betaworks will fold Digg into News.me but will not retain any members of the Digg staff who still remain after the mass exodus to The Washington Post Company’s Social Code in May. (big hat tip to MartinezReport for the tip) source
While not confirmed by the Post, which has no comment, The Next Web has multiple sources telling them about the news, with TechCrunch reporting from a source or two of its own. If this was the case, it’d likely dovetail nicely into the Post’s recent push into social readers. Whatever happens, it probably won’t be as exciting as the company’s 2008 near-acquisition by Google, which fell through during the due diligence process but had a rumored valuation as high as $200 million. The company, long-associated with its TV host founder Kevin Rose, had a high-profile failure in 2010 when many of the site’s users left for Reddit after scorning a major redesign. (Disclosure: I work for the Washington Post Company, but not at the Post proper; I’d have no idea if this was actually happening. — Ernie @ SFB)
The reporter...
I can’t add much to what’s already been (and will be) ...
One of the perks of being an early employee...
Over the last 90 days, the Digg...
#FMMDI (at 30 Rockefeller Plaza)
Thanks. I guess my thoughts are as follows:
1. I think...
Starting a company like Digg is less like building a traditional tech company (think Apple or HP) and more like launching a TV show. And perhaps, like TV shows, these companies are ephemeral in nature. People flock in for a while, then get bored and move on.Newsweek scribe Daniel Lyons • Offering an interesting perspective on the decline of Digg, which he suggests may have been as much about the change of its audience as a failure of Digg to keep up. The TV show metaphor is actually a very good one. While not every company will fall prey to changing seasons, Web 2.0 companies are particularly apt to them due to their socially-oriented business models. Lyons suggestion at the end is most telling: “The big lesson of Digg may be simply this: if someone offers you a ridiculous amount of money for a company that wasn’t that hard to build, don’t think twice. Take the money and run.” source (via)
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