Google Reader was hardly paradise and there are no plans to erect a figurative parking lot in its place, but the reaction of the faithful surely hit the company by surprise.
The Company that Defined Search, despite oodles of data and plenty of evidence, caught unawares? Take a number.
There is a rich business tradition of consumers indicating one thing by dint of their declining purchases, uses or general dissatisfaction, only to rise as one when the product or service in question is suddenly denied them. Soft drinks (New Coke, in particular), TV shows, automobiles, menu items - the list goes on. Despite the accumulated evidence that customers are taking their business elsewhere, they consistently protest when companies attempt to follow their lead, naively believing they are redeploying resources to the fans' advantage.
The reasons for this lie in the web of associations, memories and beliefs rooted in the brand experience. People contextualize them and frame aspects of their experience around their presence. When they are cancelled, withdrawn or denied, part of that psychological construct disappears as well, threatening the whole. That is what makes the response so emotional, even, as in the Google Reader case, the channels they use for protest are the very ones that rendered the service expendable.
There is little business can do other than to recognize that there will always be a segment of the population who will protest any change - and that their voices will be amplified by the net. Whether it makes sense to change the original decision - or simply to provide an outlet for those in mourning - is evidence of how brands and the people who love them may continue to surprise us. JL
Bede McCarthy reports in the Financial Times:
Outrage reverberated across the internet and twittersphere on Wednesday after Google announced that Google Reader, its influential service collating feeds from news sites and blogs, would be shut later this year.
It was the kind of reaction usually reserved for when the presses at a venerable newspaper are switched off or a much-loved television series is scrapped.
“That giant ‘NOOOOOOOO’ sound is the internet’s reaction to Google’s most unpopular decision in – well, as far back as I can remember,” Pete Cashmore at Mashable, the social media news site, tweeted.
The irony was evident as the outpouring of indignation flowed through social media sites such as Twitter and Facebook, services whose popularity contributed to the fate of the humble Reader.
Launched in 2005 before Twitter, the iPhone and apps, Google Reader provided a simple way for users to bring together feeds from news sites in an email-like inbox. Although lacking a conversational element, it became kind of an early social network with a deeply loyal community of users sharing articles and blogs.
As the internet became more consumer friendly, social media sites such as Twitter drew a broader audience with rapid news output, punchy exchanges and greater ease of use. Some content providers also limited the amount of material that could be accessed by Reader users.
In a post on the company’s blog, Google said Reader would be shut on July 1 as part of “spring cleaning”.
“We launched Google Reader in an effort to make it easy for people to discover and keep tabs on their favourite websites. While the product has a loyal following, over the years usage has declined,” the company said.
Though beloved by bloggers and news junkies, Reader has received little love from Google since a design refresh in October 2011. Instead, the search group has focused on Google Plus, the social network launched in June 2011 to compete with sites such as Facebook on a new social model for content.
But Reader proved hard to beat, living on as a catalyst for news apps such as Pulse and Flipboard, where users “subscribe” to websites without needing any knowledge of Rich Site Summary (RSS) feeds, the web syndication standard used by Reader.
Google does not disclose details on the usage of Reader. However, ComScore says use of the Google Reader mobile app in the US peaked at 665,000 unique visitors in October last year, falling to 492,000 in January. Twitter has 200m active registered users.
Much of the anger from Reader users stems from a large investment in time building their individualised service. For some, it was reminder that while they could use such a technology, they did not own it.
Google said grieving users could switch to rival RSS sites, exporting their Reader data over the next few months with its “takeout” service. Competing sites such as Feedly, Newsblur and The Old Reader are also poised to exploit the withdrawal symptoms.
Ryan Block, head of product at digital content provider AOL Tech, tweeted that Google should have looked for a buyer for Reader rather than close it.
“Reader is still heavily used. At least sell it off to someone else to operate,” he said.
Some users said there could be a reputational impact on Google from Reader’s closure.
“Google drives all RSS services out of business by making Reader free. Then shuts down Google Reader. This isn’t about ‘evil’, but trust,” said Benedict Evans, analyst at research house Enders.
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