Next week is going to be a little sad because we have to say our last goodbye to a service that we have been using for years. On July 1, Google will shut down Google Reader. We’ve already talked about a lot of alternatives, such as the noteworthy Feedly, the most capable RSS feed reader today, which this week is actually going to switch its service over completely so that it no longer relies on Google Reader. But no worries – you don’t have to use rely only on this reader because there are many other tools at your disposal.
Let’s start with Feedly. Being the main service that the majority of RSS subscribers have switched over to, it’s important to be alert so you don’t lose anything with the closing of Google Reader. It isn’t very complicated – all you have to do is login to the service with your account from said service and install the latest version of the program, whether it be on your mobile device, or as a Chrome extension.
The most recently released version is version 16, specifically version 16.05.515 on Chrome, 16.01 on iOS, and 16.0.5 on Android. If you don’t have said version, and it won’t update for you, remove the application (you won’t lose anything, thanks to the cloud), and install the newest one. Some have said that there could be some inconsistencies with Feedly, such as losing the history of posts you have read when moving from Reader over to its servers, but they aren’t very big-deal problems.
Obviously, there are many other options than just this reader, some are even surprising, such as the one that Facebook is supposedly going to launch. It is rumored that Facebook is supposedly going to announce the release of its own RSS reader tomorrow, and that it would be integrated with your “Likes” on the main site. They’re still just rumors, but they could be verified as soon as tomorrow. Considering Facebook’s impact and the fact that a lot of people use it to stay up-to-date on things, it would be a valid alternative.
But, let’s talk about the services that are actually available instead. For example, The Old Reader, which was already around, had lots of users during the Google Reader ages because it looks a lot like the latter’s earliest versions in which the content was more social and you could share your reads and favorite content with others. It’s somewhat restrictive, and it costs to be a member, but it is really worth it. So, if you don’t like Feedly, this i the best alternative at the moment.
There’s also Digg, the news website, which was leading the pack up until Reddit and Stumble Upon surpassed it recently. It is developing a reader, even though the only thing on its website right now is a counter of how many day Google Reader has left.
Lastly, there are two key services, and they work better on mobile platforms: Flipboard and Pulse. They are much more visual RSS readers, and their feature vary, and the former is a bit more like a magazine. Up until now, many people used them as an alternative to the poor Google Reader mobile app, but now they are seen as the more complete option.
As you can see, there are lots of alternatives to Google Reader. Its going away doesn’t sit well at all within the Internet community, which continues to view Google with disfavor for its strategy to push everything over to its social network architecture with Google Plus. At least the thing that has been a part of the Internet forever, the RSS feed, will be around for a lot longer even if Twitter is increasingly being used as a news source, or even if Facebook updates its newsfeed.
