According to an announcement by Google recently, Google Reader is to be withdrawn from duty on 1st July 2013. The announcement has caused outrage from fans of the service, who are calling for it to be saved. Google has explained its reason for Reader’s removal, saying that there had been a decline in the demand for it.
Google Reader lets users collect up-to-date content from a variety of websites and place them all in one easily accessed central point. The service was launched in 2005 and has built up a devoted following of users. Google also stated that the company was concentrating all its resources on fewer products. Alan Green, the Google software engineer said:
“We know Reader has a devoted following who will be very sad to see it go. We’re sad too.”
According to Green, Google Takeout may be used in the months leading up to the demise of Reader to export any data which is stored. Even so, the announcement sparked a surge of online protests, as angry Google Reader users tweeted suggestions to protest and also directed their ire towards CEO of Google, Larry page, in an effort to convince him to retain the service.
Changes to Google services, like the removal of Google Reader, could have an adverse effect on the search engine optimisation strategy of companies world wide. As content is a cornerstone of any SEO campaign, the “sunsetting” of a high profile tool that points people towards new blog posts and articles is not good. However, many people have been flocking to alternatives such as Feedly, which has seen a jump of more the 500,000 new users.
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