RSS feeds have been a time honored way for people to stay in touch with the personalized news and be updated about the various developments goings on in the world, and up until 2013 Google Reader was by far the most popular and impactful RSS reader that was available to any extent. After it was discontinued, suffice it to say that a real void was left that has never really been filled since no other RSS reader has managed to be as comprehensive as Google Reader which makes it odd that Google would want to do away with one of their most popular products.
However, 8 years later we are getting a bit of a comeback for Google Reader. While the service might not continue in the same form and customizations as before, it is being incorporated to a certain extent into Chrome through a flag (chrome://flags/#web-feed) that enables you to follow websites in order to get frequent updates on new content that the website might be sending your way. Activating the web feed flag is going to result in you getting the chance to peruse a version of the RSS feed that you might have gotten used to prior to 2013.
This new feature might serve as an adequate replacement to the “Discover” feed. The quality of the content in the Discover feed is actually quite poor since it is full of would be viral content most of which involves at the very least some form of click bait. Hence, by offering users the chance to develop an RSS feed of their own, Google is moving away from a feed that they themselves might have attempted to curate. This is definitely a step that most people that miss Google Reader are going to appreciate, as it will help them get organized with regards to the content that they consume every day.
Read next: Chrome’s new iOS update will enable users to access the incognito tab through their Face Id
However, 8 years later we are getting a bit of a comeback for Google Reader. While the service might not continue in the same form and customizations as before, it is being incorporated to a certain extent into Chrome through a flag (chrome://flags/#web-feed) that enables you to follow websites in order to get frequent updates on new content that the website might be sending your way. Activating the web feed flag is going to result in you getting the chance to peruse a version of the RSS feed that you might have gotten used to prior to 2013.
This new feature might serve as an adequate replacement to the “Discover” feed. The quality of the content in the Discover feed is actually quite poor since it is full of would be viral content most of which involves at the very least some form of click bait. Hence, by offering users the chance to develop an RSS feed of their own, Google is moving away from a feed that they themselves might have attempted to curate. This is definitely a step that most people that miss Google Reader are going to appreciate, as it will help them get organized with regards to the content that they consume every day.
H/T: 9to5Google.
Read next: Chrome’s new iOS update will enable users to access the incognito tab through their Face Id
