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shuttering Google Reader is a major reason for why 2016-2020 happened the way they did, why fake news is such a major problem, and why trust in the integrity of journalism is at an all-time low https://twitter.com/mathowie/status/1299480141760872448">https://twitter.com/mathowie/...
"average people" didn& #39;t use Google Reader. But you know who did? Media professionals. Journalists. Political staffers. People with outsize influence on public discourse.
The sheer usage numbers don& #39;t tell the full story of how influential Google Reader was.
The sheer usage numbers don& #39;t tell the full story of how influential Google Reader was.
Google Reader provided a way for journalists, analysts, and professionals to keep tabs on trustworthy sources of information. Without it, they have to rely on algorithmically-driven platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and so forth.
With Google Reader, the user was in full control of the content they consumed.
Algorithmically-driven platforms, on the other hand, treat the user& #39;s attention as the product.
Algorithmically-driven platforms, on the other hand, treat the user& #39;s attention as the product.
The difference is that hardly any of them started using Feedly https://twitter.com/kisPocok/status/1299680347173662721?s=19">https://twitter.com/kisPocok/...
We can speculate about *why* Feedly never captured the same base that a Google Reader did (price? mindshare? lack of bundling?), but Google Reader was massively popular with a userbase that ended up using targeted platforms instead after Reader shut down.
