This might not be big news for some (most) of you, but for those of you who use Google Reader to keep up with the goings on of the market and various blogs, this might have a big impact on you. Google announced today that it's groundbreaking RSS aggregator will be no more as of July 1.
Predictably, the news was met with plenty of teeth gnashing and rending of garments among the Internet cool kids, and petitions have already sprung up begging Google for a reprieve. Some of the reactions so far have been hilarious.
I'm kinda sorry to see it go. Google Reader was a huge part of my daily ritual in the early days of WSO. I'll admit I haven't logged into it in a long while though, and when I did a couple weeks ago I had thousands of unread articles. I basically use Twitter and Zite instead of Reader these days, and apparently so do a lot of other people because that's the reason that's being thrown around for the retirement of Reader.
So how many of you still rely on Reader? Is this going to have much of an impact on you? I kinda wish they'd bring back Google Wave. I was convinced that was the future of email communications. Shows what I know.
*UPDATE* Shit just got real:
These days I'm the same as you, Twitter and Zite for all my news. Never really got into RSS so losing Reader wont affect me but I imagine anyone who was a dedicated user will find this annoying!
This is fucking brutal...
I use Google Reader for my job (investment management) -- I subscribe to a bunch of dudes who only post every so often, or irregularly, but are generally pretty brilliant (urban development professors, experts on Asia, etc...). Now I'm going to have to visit their sites individually like a goddamned animal.
Just kidding, I'll find a new web-based RSS platform. Still annoying, though, given my comfort with the product and the plug-ins and apps that people have developed that leverage Google Reader. I mean, I like Twitter okay. I like Zite and Flipboard okay... But none are a replacement for how I used my Google Reader.
I just have a hard time understanding the motivation for this one. Is the information in my Gmail account really that much more valuable than the stuff that I read every damn day in my Google Reader. I mean, if someone is subscribed to a bunch of fashion blogs, or whatever, and reads those regularly, doesn't that give Google fairly valuable information? I guess not enough.
EDIT: I should also add one more reason I think it's a mistake (other than my obvious personal bias), which is that Google Reader users probably include proportionally more "power users" than other Google products. These are the sorts of people who would evangelize on behalf of the brand, and -- although they probably think they're more important than they are -- do have a hand in shaping the conversation around various companies and products.
If someone uses another web-based RSS platform that they like, please let me know!
atomic, I thought the same thing when they announced the dismantling of iGoogle (which I personally use more than Reader). I spoke to a friend of mine that actually works at Google when they announced the iGoogle shutdown, and he told me that the actual number of people that regularly use the system was amazingly small (I want to say under 50k) and it didn't make sense for them to keep up with it.
I wouldn't be surprised if it's the same case with Reader. I think the true power users are a smaller group and less likely to leave the brand in general.
Word on the street (the street that is Google+, that is) is that Yahoo Pipes is the way to go now.
http://pipes.yahoo.com/pipes/
I am using Google Reader every day. Two types of blogs I arranged in two streams/feeds: one is banking/finance news, one is tech/internet news. I got very used to it and It is really sad to see it closing. The reason is that it is not generating money. But is it that costly to maintain this service? I mean, without upgrades or development of new features, this should be very cheap.
By the way, there is petition not to let Reader go, who know maybe it will work out! http://www.change.org/petitions/google-keep-google-reader-running (little chance, of course)
looks like the goto reader is now theoldreader
anyone use it?
why someone would monkeyshit this thread is the better question
Reader is by far my third most used google app in its product offerings, after Search and GMail. This is pretty brutal for me.
If you have Quora, this is the Google Reader product manager's answer to why they shut down his unit. :( Sadness ensues. Wasn't sure what the policy of sharing is so I'm not c/pasting it.
http://qr.ae/TofPc
Digg says they're going to build the replacement:
http://techcrunch.com/2013/03/14/digg-yes-that-digg-is-building-a-googl…
[quote=Edmundo Braverman]Digg says they're going to build the replacement:
http://techcrunch.com/2013/03/14/digg-yes-that-digg-is-building-a-googl…]
Digg seems to be making a bit of a comeback. Kevin Rose must be thinking...wtf?
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