How the new Google Reader has stopped me from sharing
I used to click “Share” on Google Reader quite regularly. I occasionally did “Share with note”. Google’s killed this feature, focusing on loading a +1 button in the iOS/mobile interface (/reader/i). If you use the regular view (/reader/view), you have the option of +1 or a g+ Share.
The +1 just does just that. It says I +1 it. I like it. I endorse it. The g+ Share is like the old “Share with note”.
I do most of my RSS reading on a host of mobiles (iPhone, Android devices, Nokia N9) and my tablet (an iPad). The default view is this one. The iOS/touch interface. I usually use a 3G connection, and sometimes its not so hot. The +1 button is a graphic that has to load. And it occasionally pops up a new window, loads something in Plus, then comes back to the reader. It just breaks my flow.
So I’ve stopped sharing on Google Reader. It takes too much work to use +1. It is not seamless. It is not integrated. It just seems like an afterthought of “oh shit, we need to make Reader more social; lets tack on the +1 button”.
Google Reader is a great service. Its free. It solves my problem of reading on multiple devices because it is a “one synced RSS feed” (because it is online). I used to use desktop RSS readers on Linux and Mac OSX, but I’ve pretty much just focused on Google Reader for the last few years. I even had a great list of shared items. Now I just star items if I want to come back to it later…
The sharing has always been the fun part of GR for me. Now that it’s so hard I find myself using GR less and less.Â
I am missing this feature as well. Â I used it on my personal blog for items that I have read and recommend. Â I sure wish Google would not have messed with that feature. Â