by Steve Woods
After all of the hand-wringing over the announced shuttering of Google Reader on July 1st, is there still hope for the beleaguered content aggregator? If you look between the lines of Google's movements as of late, you might notice that we aren't really witnessing a slow, painful, public funeral.
After all of the hand-wringing over the announced shuttering of Google Reader on July 1st, is there still hope for the beleaguered content aggregator? If you look between the lines of Google's movements as of late, you might notice that we aren't really witnessing a slow, painful, public funeral.
Perhaps what we're being asked to attend is a digital reincarnation.
Like other social networks, Google's still new-shiny social network Plus is an RSS feed creator and reader, all in one. Google maintaining a separate content consumption and sharing site such as Reader really doesn't make sense in the long run, especially given their own statements that the service is losing users.
As Forbes writer Karl Smith sees it, Google "intends to deliver the underlying service of Google Reader in Google Plus. Instead of subscribing to the RSS, you simply follow the blog in question." So why not take Google's lead and use the tools they've been adding in Plus to rebuild your Reader experience?
Google has always had its friend-niche service called Circles, allowing you to section off your content and share it with co-workers, friends, family, etc. The addition of "Following" a Plus account, however, allows you to section off individual feeds from providers who link their Plus account to their blogs.
Like Reader, you can follow any of your favorite blogs or content providers on Plus by searching for them and clicking on the Follow button (upper right). This will let you check the follow check-box, or even add the blog to any of your Circles - which now can be used as a categorizing tool - same as in Reader. To make more blog categories, just make more Circles in Plus.
After adding a blog on Plus, click on your Following link (upper middle of the network, under More) and you'll see a list of blogs or content providers you've followed. Scroll to read their most recently shared content, or narrow your search by clicking on an individual provider in the upper right.
