So Long and Goodbye: Google Will Discontinue Google Reader This Summer

If you use Google Reader to read and share RSS feeds you’re going to need to find a new tool.
Google just announced that as of July 1st, 2013 they will “retire” the service.
Here’s what they had to say in a blog post:

We launched Google Reader in 2005 in an effort to make it easy for people to discover and keep tabs on their favorite websites. While the product has a loyal following, over the years usage has declined. So, on July 1, 2013, we will retire Google Reader. Users and developers interested in RSS alternatives can export their data, including their subscriptions, with Google Takeout over the course of the next four month.

If you use RSS (we do), we’re big fans of what Sam Clay at Newsblur is up to. We’ve been this web-based RSS aggregator for over a year and have been slowly but surely migrating over (from Google Reader).
Newsblur is an entirely web-based service, very reasonable in terms of price, has a growing number of features, and is the work of a single developer who is very responsive to suggestions.
The one feature Newsblur doesn’t have (at least as of today) is the ability to keyword search all of your feeds. Hopefully, this will be coming soon.
Worth a look.
UPDATE: A lot of people are looking for alternatives to Google Reader and the Newsblur server is getting slammed. They’re adding bandwidth so if you’re unable to access try again. Updates on Newsblur’s Twitter stream.
Update 2: We shared a few more comments about Newsblur in this post for Search Engine Land.
Update 3: Former Google Reader product manager confirms our suspicions: Its demise is all about Google+ (via The Next Web)
I’m not at all surprised to read this.
Btw, Google announced the end of several other services. You can read about them here.
See Also: More Alternatives? Take a Look at this Roundup from CNET
See Also: ars technica is polling readers about where to turn. A former ars editor also has good things to say about Newsblur.

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