I have a routine like any other human being on this planet. I get to work, fire up my computer, then have a look at Google Reader for tidbits. (Fatima speak for anything trivial related to work, life, and writing.) On Thursday Google Reader has a news-breaking pop up:
Of course I read more to learn Google decided yesterday to do away with Google Reader due to declining demand. Before getting introduced to this tool during at the start of my Library Tech training in 2007, a mere two years after launching, my previous ways of getting information off the web were inefficient. (Par for the course for a beginner, and I am still learning stuff along the way.) Now they want to take it away. Ah, BOO!!!
A recent Vancouver Sun Blog article about Google Reader’s demise pointed out a number of alternatives, plus links to other suggestions from Mashable and other tech sites. Here are their favourites:
I had Flipboard on my Samsung phone and took the thing off. Flipboard reminds me too much of Tumblr or Pinterest, both sites I can tolerate not go ga-ga over. After reading the endorsement of a friend of a Facebook friend, I set up a feed over at The Old Reader. It’s the closest to Google Reader, but I need to be patient during its beta stages. The subscription transfer between these two proved difficult. (To phrase that last point nicely.)
However, it pays to subscribe to WordPress’ News Blog. It’s where I get my tips and tricks already, but now I have another place to gather my favourite blogs and my Google Reader items. The transfer proved easy-peasy and if I have anything for Midweek Geekiness, I can gather my info from the ‘Blogs I Follow’ feed.
I confess the pop-up message set off my alarm bells. The internet is a wide, and sometimes wild, place as many people already know. Every single time one site decides to end, another 10 pop up. It’s exhausting and I want to shut my electronics down to enjoy the outdoors. People say Blogging is so 2001, now it’s Tweeting and Tumblr. At this point my limits begin to take over, and I say, “Well, according to you. Things work just fine for me.”
Like I wrote yesterday, Tumblr seems a little young for me. It’s all pictures and captions, while Twitter seems like brain farts in 140 characters. It is no accident one of my favourite quotes comes from poet C. Day-Lewis:
We do not write in order to be understood; we write in order to understand.
While people try to keep up and be informed, I sometimes wonder if they truly understand. Google Reader’s demise is not just about my favourite tool riding off into the internet sunset. It’s about taking the time to use something, to interact, to understand, and taking the time needed to do it. Sometimes heading off rapidly in another direction may mean the total opposite of progressing. Perhaps it’s standing still, getting into a rut, while looking like things move somewhere else.
Further Reading On Google Reader’s Demise
- 3 Easy Steps to Export Feeds from Google Reader (kvliveblog.wordpress.com)
- Transitioning from Google Reader to feedly (feedly.com)
- R.I.P. Google Reader: 2005-2013 (uproxx.com)
- 20 Alternatives to Google Reader (philbradley.typepad.com)
- As Google Reader is killed off, Flipboard, Feedly and others step up with RSS alternatives (thenextweb.com)
- Bye, Google Reader: Don’t let the door hit you in the RSS (geekwire.com)
An Interesting Article from the Founder of WordPress Regarding the Future of Blogging
Unpaused Life 