Tag Archives: Google Reader

Will you use Google Keep?

Following right on the announcement of the demise of our beloved Google Reader, Google announces Google Keep, a note-taking app. I haven’t tried it because I already use Springpad, and I’m reluctant to move everything over to a new app. Springpad also organizes my notes nicely into virtual notebooks; I’m not sure if Keep does this or if it’s more like sticky notes, which, quite frankly, fails to wow me.

A bigger question for me is what if I do start using Google Keep and grow to depend on it, and then Google kills it off? Many others have had similar thoughts, and an article at the Guardian predicts, based on an analysis of the average lifespan of Google products that are eventually killed off, that Google Keep will last about 4 years. “And then either your data will die, or it will have to be collected and then toted around like an old sofa, which will then have to be pushed up the stairs into a new service.”

Many of us can remember Google Notebook, which wasn’t the greatest note-taking application, but which I used because it integrated with all my other Google things. Where is it now? In the Google Graveyard, where Reader will soon  be laid to rest.

Using Google Reader’s trends to find blogs of value

Image representing Google Reader as depicted i...

Image via CrunchBase

Someone on Twitter yesterday asked about how people use Google Reader‘s Trends feature. I had a quick reply then, but I thought I’d blog about it as well.

I subscribe to a lot of RSS feeds in Reader. If I see an interesting website, and it has a feed, I tend to subscribe, because only by reading over a few days can I really determine if the content is of value to me. (All websites should offer feeds for people like me, by the way.)

While I’m reading my feeds, I use Google Reader’s features to share articles I find particularly interesting or star them for later reference. I may see something I want to blog about, for instance, so I’ll star it. I also email articles quite frequently if I know they will be of interest to someone in particular. Google Reader’s Trends captures all of this activity.

When the number of feeds becomes overwhelming, and I need to winnow them down — usually about once a month — I’ll check the trends. The feeds I keep are the ones that Trends shows I’ve been sharing, starring and emailing. I’ll also check the posting activity. Feeds that are marked inactive, or haven’t had new posts in over a month, I’ll definitely drop.

If you use Google Reader, do you check the trends?

Check out my shared items on Google Reader.