Google Reader, like iGoogle and other stuff we find useful but which doesn't fulfill Google's own criteria for usefulness, is for the scrapheap. It'll be turned off on July 1st - but don't wait till then to find something new, move on immediately and throw yourself into a new relationship!
What do you want out of a RSS subscriptions service? Here are 6 alternatives to Reader, sorted by need:
- I'm already bored with this article and just want something well put together and easy to use Look no further than Feedly. When you start using Feedly you'll immediately think that Google Reader looked outdated and bit rubbs anyway. Feedly takes literally seconds to access your old Google Reader feeds and then you're away - plus there's free Android and iOS apps for it too.
- I just want something that looks and feels exactly like Google Reader In which case let me introduce to Old Reader. It was made a while ago when Reader lost some functionality, to look like Reader used to look.
- I am a Mac person, I want something especially for me Newsrack may be the one - it works with Google Reader (you can sync with it for now, and import your feeds before Reader goes) but it works completely alone too. It'll cost you though, it's a paid-for app.
- I want something that can do more than just replace Google ReaderNetvibes can replace Google Reader AND iGoogle and do other stuff besides. It's relatively straightforward to import your Reader feeds too.
- I want something with a self-contradicting name Hello Newisfree! Looking forward to some free news, can't wait. Oh... okay. Premium.
- I want to approach things in a completely different way I personally don't use Google Reader anymore, because I trust my network on Twitter to surface what is important. If a blog post or news item is significant, or controversial, or just really well written, it WILL come to my attention on Twitter. So rather than resubscribing to a load of blogs via a new service, you could take time to make sure you follow some really good sharers on Twitter, and just take a more zen approach to finding good things to read... Plus if you do miss something, that's okay. .
Still have needs not met by any of the above? Check out the Online Journalism Blog's fabulous Google doc listing, at the current count, 50 way to subscribe to feeds.
- thewikiman