Google To Shut Down Their RSS Reader

Web giant Google announced yesterday [Mar 13] that they will be closing down their RSS reader on July 1 2012, citing declining usage over the years. RSS is often used by tech savvy readers to subscribe to blogs and websites, with most modern websites — including Bernews — offering a variety of RSS feeds to readers.

The post on the Google blog said, “We have just announced on the Official Google Blog that we will soon retire Google Reader (the actual date is July 1, 2013). We know Reader has a devoted following who will be very sad to see it go. We’re sad too.

“There are two simple reasons for this: usage of Google Reader has declined, and as a company we’re pouring all of our energy into fewer products. We think that kind of focus will make for a better user experience.

“To ensure a smooth transition, we’re providing a three-month sunset period so you have sufficient time to find an alternative feed-reading solution. If you want to retain your Reader data, including subscriptions, you can do so through Google Takeout.”

Users of Google Reader can export their subscriptions and use one of the alternative RSS readers, with Feedly announcing they are working on a project called Normandy which is a feedly clone of the Google Reader API.

Since the announcement on Wednesday night, a petition on Change.org has already amassed more than 34,000 signatures.

Category: All, Business, technology