July 1, 2013 will be the end of an era. Google Reader will shut down. For years, it’s been used for blog and?Web?sharing. It even updated your favorite sites for you. But in two days, thanks to declining use, it will be gone.
Google Reader went up in 2005. One designer called it a ‘river’ of news and other content. It eventually added features like marking and folder navigation. It went on to include You Tube videos. My favorite was the sharing feature, where readers could publish out their favorite blogs and sites to others, and vice versa. In 2008, they added a ‘Friends navigator’ to their menu. But eventually, it was too later.
I believe social media like Facebook and Twitter helped kill Google Reader. Think about it: how much news and articles do you get from your Facebook friends and Twitter followers? How much is shared on those pages? Many alternatives are offered and suggested. To many RSS is important. I don’t know what my new one is going to be, but I’ve read and heard many compliments about Feedly. It’s free, on desktops and laptops, and you can get it on smartphones and devices. While attractive, is it going to be the same? What was your favorite thing about Google Reader?