Why the crazy uproar over the end of Google Reader? Anyone who read the Google defense of the decision knows that it wasn’t being used at a level Google wanted and that they want to refocus their efforts elsewhere.
Oy vey, what outpouring of grief and angst, proving that Google Reader fans may not be plentiful, but they are certainly noisy.
End of hunch
This decision is part of a new way of doing business where we make decisions based not emotion but on the metrics that matter, like long-term strategy, cost versus benefit, and economic trends. Petitions and outcry may still work to reverse Google’s decision, but should it? Should Google be forced to support every product whether it plays to their long-term vision or not? We love Web companies because they don’t carry the legacy luggage that slows down older businesses, yet we want Google to do just that?
On the positive side, all of this emotion shows that Google is clearly embedded in our hearts and minds. The passion reflects the connection Google has with the public.
Full disclosure…I am not a user of Google Reader. In the vast array of web tools available, that one just never rose above the noise for me so I can’t say I’ll miss its passing. I’ll watch the uproar and draw my own conclusions, as usual.
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Well, just know that enough people used it, and also many used it to follow your blog, giving you klout.
(although you never took the effort to fully publish your blog content, so we were forced to click through to this website). Blogs exist mostly because RSS readers exist.
Yes, we didn’t fully explore the RSS technology (sorry for any inconvenience). The question remains though…if it was so popular, why did Google see it as ‘in decline’?
I read google reader became the social network that google never wanted to create. As google have slowly, but surely, and inexorably begun to tie everything from youtube to gmail to docs into a single profile with G+, they want to create a singular, comprehensive view of every user. I wouldnt be surprised if they enhance G+’s feed reader capacities in a short while, although definitely after the google reader hubub has died down.
“all of this emotion shows that Google is clearly embedded in our hearts and minds.”
It showed people liked google reader, and are angry it is being taken away. They will move on to something else now..