Google takes aim at Digg and Fark with Reader Play

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By Barry Collins

Posted on 12 Mar 2010 at 10:00

Google is adding a splash of fun to RSS feeds with a new service called Reader Play.

The service pulls in the most popular pictures and videos from across the web, and presents them in a full-screen slideshow. Users can vote for their favourite items, with Reader Play promising to personalise the feed based on your preferences.

Reader Play appears to be Google's attempt at stealing some thunder from aggregators such as Digg, Fark.com and Reddit, which regularly showcase the type of humorous videos and images that are found on Play.

The service is a spin-off from the search giant's regular RSS feed service, Good Reader. However, Google insists that both services are designed to co-exist. "To be clear, Reader Play isn't intended to replace Google Reader: both Google Reader and Reader Play are about finding and reading interesting stuff online," said Google's Garret Wu, on the Google Reader blog.

"In essense, Reader Play is a different view of Reader. It's designed to be a fun and easy way to browse interesting items, while Reader is a highly customisable way to organize your feeds, keep track of what you've read, and much more."

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