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Google Reader was very popular as an aggregator of content provided by web feeds (data format used for providing frequently updated content) till July 1, 2013. A number of applications had used it for providing news and information to the people. The service's demise is indeed a great loss for many users who are used to the convenience it offered as regards collecting news in one place. However, your Google Reader data will remain on Google servers till July 15 and to avoid losing it, download your data via Google Takeout before the set deadline. Getting used to another service may prove difficult; however, one has to find a substitute. Here are the various alternatives available to deal with the loss of Google Reader. New RSS Reader Google Reader used RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feed creation tool for subscribing to different websites and receiving news updates. RSS feeds allow publishers to syndicate content automatically from websites. Hence, it is possible to receive updated content regularly with a suitable RSS Reader that can deliver straight RSS feeds. The following are the best RSS Readers available today. - Feedley: This reader is the most popular alternative for Google Reader by far and available on iOS, Android and Web platforms. With its beautiful interface and tons of views, you can tweak the reader to work like Google Reader. A new syncing feature named 'Feedly Cloud' is provided for migration along with extension-free web apps, keyboard shortcuts and more. It can sync with most of the applications.
- The Old Reader: It is a simple, web-based RSS reader that comes with plenty of excellent sharing features. The Old Reader functions like the Google Reader with its earlier social features.
- NewsBlur: With an interface much like Google Reader, NewsBlur offers a more customized experience. It is a web-based reader compatible with iOS, Android and Web platforms. You can view stories on original sites, organize them into categories, tag most wanted stories and even arrange favorite stories in a blog (Blurblog) with this reader. Free subscription service is available up to 64 sites. Paying $24 a year can provide you with a premium account that will allow access to unlimited sites.
The other better options are AOL Reader and NetVibes. Digg Reader is the best RSS reader on board with several new features including filter to show trending articles in feeds, Digg integration and more. Social Media Social media networks are a very good source for getting news updates. The links or commentaries on important stories easily spread into the feeds of one's social media account. Twitter is the pioneer among social media networks in providing the latest news to people. It shows real news stories from popular writers compared to the personal stories in Facebook. Here are the two features that make Twitter a killer news source. - Discovery Tab: By clicking on this tab, you can view the links that are most popular on your feeds. To get effective results, you need to either edit whom you follow carefully or create a custom list according to your interests (e.g: specific location). You can follow news organizations for top news stories or specific writers for their work and links.
- Hashtags: This feature will help you access the news about a particular topic or event. If you click a hashtagged word in a tweet or message, all the tweets which have been marked with that word will come up on your Twitter page. For example, if you want to know the latest news about smartphone, just click the #Smartphone and you can find all the smartphone related tweets.
News Reader Applications There are several news reader applications available to show you news feeds in vibrant interfaces according to your requirements. The applications are categorized into mainly two types: - Real-time News Readers: These readers check your interests, figure out which type of articles or topics you like most (using some algorithms) and finally serve the most suitable content. They categorize the content into different sections and use more images to provide a magazine-like reading experience. Flipboard, Zite, Pulse and Prismatic are the most popular among these applications.
- Offline News Readers: Sometimes you may prefer deep reads rather than scanning the headlines or first sentences of an article or news item. You can save those articles or news using offline news reader applications and read them later. Instapaper, Readability and Pocket are some of the best applications in this category. Read Later button in Safari browser also serves the same purpose.
Direct News Source You can use direct routes to search for news such as typing the URL of your favorite news site into the browser. If you need news related to a specific topic, it is better to go straight to the site of a trusted news organization which handles that topic. You can also use the mobile applications (compatible with iOS, Android or Windows device) of such news organizations (e.g. IBNLive, BBC News). The benefit of using these apps is that you can set up push notifications to alert you quickly when something important happens. Google News is another direct option to find out various types of news from multiple sites without typing individual URLs. When you search for a topic with Google News, it will look at all news sources and come up with the breaking news, featured stories and other news related to that topic on the search results according to their popularity. It also makes use of newsmap for a good visual presentation. You should have a clear idea about your requirements before choosing an alternative - such as whether you want to check news from your mobile device or web browser, and whether you really want to share stories. The alternatives available may prove to be useable, fun and in the course of time be as popular as Google Reader. About Author: MOS SEO Services is a professional SEO company based in Tulsa, Oklahoma, providing white hat search engine optimization, social media optimization and Internet marketing services. Using advanced technology, our SEO experts deliver organic SEO services that are specific to client requirements.
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