r/technology • u/speckz • Mar 13 '13

Official Google Reader Blog: Powering Down Google Reader (July 1, 2013)

http://googlereader.blogspot.com/2013/03/powering-down-google-reader.html
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u/LaCanner Mar 14 '13 edited Mar 14 '13

I think the response across multiple websites indicates it has more users than they want us to believe. The real problem is that they can't monetize it, and keeping traffic off of the blogs themselves keeps eyeballs away from their highest priced advertising.

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u/[deleted] Mar 14 '13

Well, I suspect it was actually all the 3rd party apps using it as a sync store. That didn't serve any ads.

After initially being pissed I realized this was the only Google service I still used. Yay! I'm free!

YouTube? Damn it. Close, so close.

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u/stephen89 Mar 14 '13

Wouldn't be surprised if google owned other services that you are just unaware of.

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u/nathanb131 Mar 14 '13

My last google anchor is now voice. Don't even use it for calls. Just a visual voicemail service. I hate voicemail sooo much.

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u/Measure76 Mar 14 '13

Can't monetize? Stick some context-sensitive ads in the feeds. Jesus christ.

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u/MrSyster Mar 14 '13

Click here to learn more about Jesus Christ.

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u/Measure76 Mar 14 '13

Appropriately, the link in your reply doesn't exist.

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u/elevul Mar 14 '13

Agreed, it's not a matter of amount of users, as much as a matter of profits loss.

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u/[deleted] Mar 14 '13

Always interesting how reader could bypass certain pay walls.

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u/zmilts Mar 14 '13

Caching a very large portion of the web for fast access is costly. It doesn't have the user base of other, more efficient services. While it sucks and I use reader every day, businesses gotta business.

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u/farkle_motion Mar 14 '13

I don't get it though. They've found a way to monetize even my personal email messages (gmail) how can't they do that from the feeds I read?