R.I.P for RSS: Google to shut down Google Reader

People accustomed to getting feeds news feeds through Google Reader are now looking for alternatives following news that the company will end the service.

Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) announced on its blog Wednesday that the company will “retire” Google Reader on July 1. Google cited declining usage as the reason.

Google acknowledged that Reader had a loyal following but added that usage has declined in recent years. In the post, titled “A second spring of cleaning,” the company says that the company needs to focus, lest it spread itself too thin. That means the end for some services, such as support for the Google Voice app for BlackBerry, which will end next week. In total, 70 features or services will end since Google started its spring cleaning in 2011.

Launched in 2005, Google Reader allows people to track news and their favorite websites via RSS feeds. But Mat Honan notes in a Wired blog that Reader was more than just a way to follow news. He says it fostered a community. That’s because the Reader that grew to attract a loyal following stemmed from Blogger. Blogger was the blog publishing service from Pyra Labs, which was acquired by Google in 2003.

Homan writes that the social aspect of Reader came from the ability to friend, follow and share stories with others. But Google removed those sharing capabilities in 2011 as it pushed people to use Google+. That marked the beginning of the end for Reader, but there were other reasons.

In a TechCrunch post, Drew Olanoff writes that RSS feeds are “too nerdy” to garner mass appeal. Weighing against Reader was the challenge in monetizing the service and the emergence of social media alternatives for finding and sharing content, Olanoff said. It’s those social media alternatives that have mass appeal.

“Thanks to Twitter, Flipboard and Facebook, I have more content than I can shake a stick at,” Olanoff said. “I don’t want to read every single thing that WIRED writes, I want to read the things that people I know think are awesome. Google Reader never did that for me, so it must go.”