Tag: Feedly

Losing Google Reader

This past week Google announced they have decided to kill Google Reader. Ugh. I cannot adequately express how much this frustrates me. I want to kick something. I’m a huge fan and reader of blogs. I subscribe to hundreds of them through RSS and Google Reader. I spend anywhere from 30 to 90 minutes a day reading online and my first stop has always been Google Reader. I use Zite and Flipboard, too, but they are secondary to Google Reader.

When I began connecting with other educators online, I would wait until I saw them tweet about a new post before reading their blogs. I learned so much from reading and thinking about their posts. I began rethinking what it means to be a teacher and a learner in today’s world., and my philosophy of education began to shift from a perennial viewpoint to one that is progressive (constructivist/connectivist). Unfortunately, I had to wait for people to share their posts on Twitter or I had to keep checking their websites waiting for new posts. Then, someone introduced me to RSS. (I honestly don’t remember who it was, but I am extremely indebted to him.) RSS allowed me to subscribe to feeds from blogs and only have to go to one place to read them all. RSS is like having a personal newspaper of content from writers that I want to read. I mostly subscribe to educational blogs (see my abbreviated educational blogroll), but I also subscribe to content from marketing geniuses, sports pundits, favorite authors, parenting experts, professional geeks, and others. I fell in love with RSS in general and with Google Reader specifically. I have used it almost every day for the past 4 years. Imagine my irritation at learning Google was abandoning Reader. How can this be?

I wasn’t the only one irritated either. The blogosphere erupted with negative reactions to the news and with suggestions for replacement services, too. Here is a sampling of what I found:

Additionally, you might want to check out this crowdsourced list of alternatives to Google Reader.

For now, I am auditioning three replacement RSS services. I have used Feedly before but never loved it. I tried it on my iPad when I was having tech issues with Mr. Reader (I use Feeddler Pro on my iPhone). It worked fine, but I immediately returned to Google Reader and Mr. Reader as soon as my issues resolved. I’m trying it again to see if it’ll take this time. I have also paid for a one-year subscription to Newsblur and have played with it a little. It’s been slow, but I’m guessing the many people moving to it from Google have overwhelmed the servers. I’ll continue to play with it for now. My RSS feeds hold enough value to me that I am willing to pay for a quality service. I’ve already paid for a few quality iPhone and iPad apps to use with it. Finally, I am also trying Good Noos. I started playing with it on Saturday night so we’ll see. For now, the verdict is still out on these, but my frustration over the loss of Google Reader is still significant.

What can we do? I doubt anything will change this. Reader was a free service, and we should have known its days were numbered when Google shuttered Adsense for Feeds last October. Feedburner’s life is probably limited, too. Regardless, in trying to feel less powerless I have signed the petition to keep Google Reader running at change.org. I also left a flower for Reader at the Google Graveyard. You can, too.

Do you use RSS to subscribe to blogs or other website content? Are you as irritated by Google’s abandoning RSS as I am? So you know, you can keep your Google data, including your Reader subscriptions, by downloading them through Google Takeout. I recommend it. Reader has been my most prized online learning tool. What is yours? Why?