RIP Google Reader

When logging into my Google Reader account last week, I found out that Google was putting an end to Reader in July 2013.  I was immediately disappointed since I had spent a good amount of time the previous day finding great inspirational design blogs and adding them to my subscriptions. One of the first things I was told when starting my internship was to begin following influential bloggers.  Since then, it has become one of my favorite things to do with a little free time at work.  I didn’t know it when I first began, but following influential blogs in your field is one of the best things you can do to improve your knowledge and skill sets.  As a designer, seeing what others are doing in the industry is crucial. I wasn’t surprised to find that the end of Google Reader was all over the web.  Numerous articles were posted quickly on alternatives to Google Reader.  After checking out Forbes’ article, “Five Great RSS Reader Alternatives to Google Reader,” I have decided on the alternative that I will put to good use- Feedly. Feedly does a good job of balancing photos and content, something I think one photo-heavy alternative, Pulse, lacked.  Feedly has an aesthetically pleasing site (much better than Google Reader in my opinion) and has a mobile app for those who like to catch up on their latest blogs on the go.  The mobile app isn’t as user-friendly as Flipboard, but being able to have a desktop and mobile version gives Feedly the advantage. Feedly makes it easy to make the switch from Google Reader.  You can sign up for Feedly by connecting directly to your Google Reader account. You can also add the Feedly extension on Chrome and you’ll find a little Feedly Mini icon in the lower right-hand corner of your screen for easy access to preview in Feedly, save for later and share with email or social media. With anything, change is inevitable.  This is a huge opportunity for these companies to take advantage of.  Digg has already done so by announcing they have made their long-term plan of adding an RSS feeder into top priority and plan to have it out by July, just in time to replace Google Reader.