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Rumors spread about Facebook introducing RSS reader

MENLO PARK, Calif., June 15 (UPI) -- Facebook has sent out invitations to an event where it will unveil a "new product," prompting some to speculate about Facebook introducing a news reader.

Facebook will host the press event on June 20, the British tech publication The Register reported Saturday.

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"A small team has been working on a big idea. Join us for coffee and learn about a new product," said the invitations, sent by snail mail.

Rumors have been spread that the announcement will be a new RSS reader, or a news reader, to replace Google Reader, which Google said it was shutting down on July 1 due to the declined of users over the years and because the company wanted to focus on other projects.

Tom Waddington, who also maintains crafting and home art website Cut Out + Keep, blogged Thursday that he spotted something new in Facebook's code base.

"A new entry appeared – now users have RSS feeds, each RSS feed has multiple entries, and a list of subscribers," the Scottish blogger wrote. "What's surprising is that the code mentions RSS specifically and distinctly from existing interest lists and friend lists. Also, note that this is unconnected to Facebook outputting RSS feeds, which they've done for a while."

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Waddington said he tried to access the RSS feeds, but that they were blocked for average users.

In March, Facebook inventor Mark Zuckerberg said: "We want more than a single feed of content. We want to give everyone in the world the best newspaper we can. It should have high-quality public content and socially relevant content, and to drill into any topic."

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