How Google destroyed RSS feeds

A trip down the memory lane:

Back in 2005, Google created Google Reader, a web-based RSS Reader application. It allowed you to add RSS feeds anywhere on the internet, organize them into folders in a clean, minimalistic interface. Then in 2013, after years of users relying on it for their RSS feeds, Google killed it.

Source: How Google helped destroy adoption of RSS feeds by

I don’t miss Google Reader; however, it changed the way I consume content forever. I am still stuck in the asynchronous way of consuming content (newest to oldest) and have spent considerable effort to “digitally curate” my sources. Much of it is related to serendipity. I also thank a large proportion of users who actually support the forum sites for “internet points” (without whom adding the layer of understanding would have been impossible). They have time to “search for content”, so that I can blog 🙂

I share content only when I stumble upon something through already filtered “firehose”. It is not advisable to “track submissions” in real time because it can get overwhelming; especially on large trafficked forums. Instead, use filters to track specific keywords for issues you are interested in. Likewise for Pubmed, you need to know how to track specific keywords through RSS feeds, instead of trawling through results or journal searches.

Add intelligence to the filtration process and profit. As for Google, it’s actually good riddance. There’s no point in using it. I may use Google Docs for collaboration, but that’s only through writing it offline and then copy/pasting the complete document online. Simple.

Google Reader taught me an extremely valuable lesson. Never depend on the cloud for the most critical domain. I am not in the process of shifting out from Inoreader.