The Demise of Google Reader Did Not Kill RSS and RSS Readers

“Falling in love with Google Reader and then giving up on open RSS-based news after it was cancelled is like falling in love with The Monkees, and giving up on music when their show was cancelled.”

This from the inventor of RSS and blogs, Dave Winer

Google Reader went went away eight years. I still use RSS and a RSS reader and so do hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of people.

90% of law firm blogs still use RSS so that their content reaches content aggregators, including Google, and prospective clients, clients and influencers who use a RSS reader (news aggregator) for tailored news.

Those of us using a RSS reader do so to get the news we want when we want it so as to stay abreast of what we need to know, to save time as compared to searching and browsing for news and insight and to use what we receive for blogging end networking through the Internet.

We used RSS readers before Google Reader ever existed. They were too good to be true – and they still are.

To those who may say but I really liked Google Reader and when it was gone I no longer had a taste for using RSS and a RSS Reader, that’s nuts.

That would be like saying I really liked my Zenith television and when they stopped manufacturing them, I stopped watching television – and expecting others to think such logic makes sense.

If you’re in the market for a RSS reader, Feedly is great. It’s free. Pay $5 more a month, the price of one latte, and you can monitor subjects, in addition to sources.

Note that Google did us no favors on the RSS and RSS reader front. They took a simple technology that worked wonderfully for publishers and readers, and basically took over the reader front with Google Reader.

Google then stuck a fork in the reader front by shutting it down. Imagine the effect of shutting down Gmail. ;)