Changes To Google Reader Drag Us Kicking and Screaming Into The Google+ Era

(Photo: Joshua Yospyn, TBD)

Until recently, it’s been easy to dismiss Google+. Frequent discussions have occurred in the hallways at the @NMSosphere weighing the viability of Google’s upstart social network and whether it has the long-term capabilities for competing with the sacred social media cows that are Facebook and Twitter. “No,” people cried – there’s no time for another social network largely made up of tech-savvy millennials with dubious extensions for brands and products. “Yes,” others argued, noting that Plus’ easy-to-use interface would allow for better segmentation (with Circles) and could potentially be a haven for application development, free of the strict guidelines and rules of the Facebook platform.

Either way, without the launch of official brand platforms to establish for clients, Google+ has been somewhat easy for marketers to ignore.  I personally restricted my Circles to coworkers, fellow techies, and journalists, and I have yet to find someone who swears by the platform. By far the most pervasive feature of Google+ is the running counter in the top right of all pages within the Google universe that informs you when you have a new follower, comment, or +1; new updates drive you to continually check your updates and drive the unavoidable red “1” or “2” back to dismissible gray zero.

Recent developments, however, threaten to make Google+ a property we can’t overlook. This week, Google rolled out changes to its RSS client, Reader. 

Why We’re So Loyal to Google Reader

Google Reader has long been the product of choice for many attached to the news cycle of the blogosphere.  While Twitter is quite literally a firehose of updates from everyone from celebrities to news outlets to your friends and relatives (sometimes at a volume which is difficult to follow), Google Reader allows you to selectively subscribe to the updates of the websites of your choice. Additionally, you could follow and be followed by close contacts on the platform, allowing you to easily curate content for your friends while reading selections from those with good taste in web culture. While for some, the go-to site for news is NYTimes.com, ESPN.com, or Mashable, those who wanted to extract more from their internet experience turn to Google Reader.

Now, Google Reader isn’t dead. The site still functions very much like its previous iterations, if not for its new stripped-down design, elements of which have rolled out to all of Google’s web properties. However, outside of its minimalist makeover, Reader’s other major change was far more significant.  No longer will Google allow you to share articles with your small (but intimate) Reader network; no longer can you read the curated readings of your friends. Now, all sharing capabilities within Google Reader reside entirely within Google Plus, out in the open for your Circles to +1.

The Effects of Stripping Google Reader Of Its Sharing Features

While Google Reader’s user base may not have compared to that of Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, or even StumbleUpon, the effect of this change is still significant. Google’s re-appropriation of the established social network Reader users have been accustomed to for several years should not be overlooked.  The closest comparison is the launch of Google Buzz; when Buzz launched and immediately pulled all your Gmail contacts into your Buzz network without consent, users revolted, noting a breach in privacy. (Obviously, people didn’t want to be social networking buddies with everyone they once sent an email to, a fact lost on the engineers at Google.)

 With Plus, Google has been more patient.  The implementation of Circles indicated that Google had learned from its previous mistakes, allowing you to create custom groups with whom you would want to share your content. But with the new changes to Google Reader, you no longer have a choice; you can’t use Reader’s former social capabilities without being forced to adopt Google+.  Are these once again the actions of a habitual line-stepper?

Power Readers and Influencers Now Being Forced Into Google Plus

Most likely, the answer is no.  The shared items of people who curate their own content with their contacts on Reader are not gone – they’ve just moved to Google Plus, which is ultimately better nothing. Like the introduction of the Facebook newsfeed, this is likely a change we will learn to live with. However, changes to Google Reader are notable. The people who were most likely to make the most of Google Reader’s social networking features are the ones that are likely the most familiar with blogs and internet content.  The Wall Street Journal’s editor of outreach and social media Zach Seward has been chronicling the change, tweeting, “This is the 11,142nd and last item I'll ever share on Google Reader. Goodbye, my favorite social network.”  Twitter’s Robin Sloan added (via Google+, naturally), “Oh gosh! It actually happened: Google Reader's social stuff is gone. I find myself strangely sad. Not annoyed, not surly, not how-dare-anybody-ever-change-anything—actually just sad.”

Google Reader enthusiasts are the early adopters, the “mavens” made famous by Malcolm Gladwell in The Tipping Point.  They’ve been called “Sharebros.” They’ve winkingly taken over the hashtag #OccupyGoogleReader (a reference to the Occupy Wall Street movement) to voice their concerns with the changes, and have created a petition that has already generated over 10,000 signatures. They’re folks that are driven enough to protest changes to Google Reader at Google’s headquarters right here in Washington, D.C.  If this group, begrudgingly or not, is to embrace Google+ en masse, this small feature change could be a significant turning point in the social networking wars.

Want old Google Reader back?  Sign the petition here.

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