Latest Changes to Google Reader

Are you ready for the next set of Google product updates?

Posted by Alan Green, Google Software Engineer, Google Reader is next on the list for a facelift from Google. These changes are scheduled to happen any day now.

The updates are to include:

• Brand new design similar to other Google products
• Ability to share Google Reader feeds directly to your Google+ circles
• Retirement of features such as following, friending and shared links (soon you will be able to use these features in Google+ instead)

This tight integration with Google+ has been conveyed as a highly requested feature.

Is this change not for you?

Google is enabling a Google Reader export feature which provides you with the ability to take the following data:

• Your subscriptions
• Your shared items
• Your friends
• Your likes
• Your starred items

I’m a big fan of Google Reader and I do use Google+, so the change doesn’t personally affect me much. However, I can see this change being received as a major frustration for some.

Why is this update helpful or frustrating for you? Please leave your comments below.

InternetMarketingClub.org Presents 10 Strategies to Stay on the Cutting-Edge

Join Jay Berkowitz, Chief Executive Officer of TenGoldenRules.com, as he teaches 10 Strategies to Stay Cutting-Edge with New Media News that Matters.

This presentation will explain the following topics:

• Resources for Cutting-Edge news using Blogs, Industry Publications and Podcasts
• Leading Industry Strategies for Location Based Networking
• Ways to optimize your Twitter presence using Hash Tags, RTs and @Replies
• Proven methods for Producing Content as you Read, Learn, Research and Watch
• Efficient ways to gain knowledge using tools such as Google Reader and iGoogle

This free webinar will take place Wednesday, June 30, 2010 12:30pmEST – 1:30pmEST. To register and for more information please visit: 10 Strategies to Stay on the Cutting-Edge

Facebook RSS Feed

Here’s a cool way to add your Facebook News Feed to your iGoogle or Google Reader. The technique shown below will actually work with any device you use to read your RSS feeds.

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I live in my Google Reader so for me this was a great way to incorporate Facebook into my Google Reader World. I still have to log into Facebook if I want to comment on something but getting my social news fed to me through an RSS feed in the simplest terms, rocks!

Making Google Reader More Social Friendly & Colorful

As an avid user of Google Reader, I’ve noticed more and more social friendly features appearing within my Google Reader. Now you will notice favicon support has recently been added, which to some may add a little more personality to his or her subscriptions. There have also been a few other additions such as “sort by magic” and “recommended sources.” Of course, the more you allow Google to study your reader habits, the more personalized these results appear for you.

Another really helpful feature I have been using more of lately is the “send to” ability. You can access this feature by going to settings -> send to. This feature gives you the ability to share a post from a specific site by the click of a button from within your reader as opposed to having to go to the actual website. For example, if you have a subscription to a site and upon reading a blog post you think to yourself, this would be a great post to tweet, you can simply enable send to Twitter, and Google Reader will pop-up a screen with the tweet already prepared [as opposed to going to the site and retweeting].

Do you find these new features helpful?

Use Google Reader To Share Posts

Google has announced several new features to Google Reader which makes it easy to share posts through a variety of social media, blogging, and bookmarking websites. Specifically, the “Send To” feature will let you simultaneously send all of your shared items to the servicess you select.

To select what services you want to share posts on, visit the settings page in Google Reader and click on the “Send To” link at the top right. Select all of the services you want to share on, such as Facebook, Twitter, Blogger, or Digg, and your shared information will automatically be sent to those services.

Google Reader Adds Notes for Sharing

I’m an avid user of Google Reader because of its web interface and the fact that I can read my subscribed feeds at any computer, but I’ve never really shared the blog posts I’ve found interesting using the Shared Items feature.

If you’re the type of person who usually likes sharing good articles and links with everyone, like me, with Google adding the Notes Feature to Shared Items, you can explain why you’re sharing that particular post.

I think that this new feature will encourage more people to share posts that they read with others.

Google also added 3 new styles to add a little personality to your public shared page. Here’s what mine looks like, and I’ll definitely be adding more shared posts in the future.