Google Reader has evolved into a powerful newsreader. Despite a plethora of competitors GReader stands out based on functionality and price (FREE). Newsgator recently opened their product up for free to consumers as well. Many consumer love the newsgator line but the stand-out difference is that GReader is a full online application (of course) whereas Newsgator is a standalone installable app.

Google Reader is easy to use. Browse to google.com/reader and login with your gmail account.The easiest way to get started is to import an existing feed or collection of rss feeds. GReader can import any opml file under settings – import. In my case I had used a netvibes.com page for quite some time. Helpfully over at netvibes they allow adding pre-defined collections of feeds (tabs in their lingo) to your page which others have submitted. This is very easy to do and convenient. Since I already had 7 or 8 tabs added I exported those into an opml file – then imported directly into GReader.

Tabs from netvibes are imported as tags in GReader. Google continues the trend of using folders and tags interchangeably. Feeds can be subscribed to multiple tags. The interface is a snap to use – Folder list with feeds on the left, content pane on the right.

‘Add Subscription’ allow the user to type any blog/website name or the actual rss link. Feed will be added right away with no tag.

Click on any feed and ‘feed settings’ option allows for applying tags, subscribing and unsubscribing. As you scroll down the content pane of any feed GReader automatically marks that article as read. Unread articles show up in bold in the feed pane. Users can choose ‘mark all read’ in any feed to update all.

Anything with an RSS feed can be added to GReader. This can be deceivingly powerful and doesn’t just limit you to blogs. I’ve setup ebay listings, craiglist search results and even job searches to show up in my Reader based on the RSS feed available on each.

One of the most powerful (and untouted) features of Google Reader is that it saves the data for you. This means that you can add a whole slew of feeds, organize them at will – and then use the ever-available search to sift thru all of the data without needing to hit the live site(s).

This can be a great research tool – as well as an organization one. Since I’ve switched to GReader the time savings has been immense. Instead of flipping thru bookmarks, news sites and blogs I scan quickly thru the updated sites and can focus my time on the content that I truly need or am interested in. If I happen to miss something or don’t have time to catch up, it will be right there for me when I’m ready.

I’ve found that I don’t need to bookmark nearly as many sites as previously – they now wait for me in Reader.

Another of my favorite features – Google Reader Mobile. That’s correct – I can pull up google.com/reader on my phone and flip thru all of the same content. This makes my cumbersome phone browser suddenly useful. Instead of fighting to type in URLS and sites that do not fit on the mobile browser, the content is served up easily and organized just as I like.

Adding a bit of social flair google allows for all feeds and links to be shared publicly or with friends via ‘your shared items’. I am sure google will try to increase this functionality over time as it would position competitively with many other social bookmarking sites. Trends are also viewable and available (of course – this is Google) where you can see which feeds you spend time on, what you read, etc.

Thru the magic of Google Gears you can even take your Reader info offline with you. Install Gears and GReader allows you to sync the last 2000 articles offline – cached on your local system. In my mind this answers many of the original criticisms of the online Reader. When you connect again it syncs and marks the Read/Unread count as necessary.

All in all a terrific application. And for the price – how could you beat it. Google scores another win for usefulness and assuming they continue to upgrade and improve they’ve got a sure winner.

One of the recent services launched by Google is the Google Reader, which is available at reader.google.com. The Google Reader will allow Internet users to search for relevant RSS feeds and manage them too. As a result, Internet users will be able to benefit from the updated information and current news articles or snippets on various topics of their choice.

In the recent past, we have noticed an increase in the popularity and use of blogs as well as RSS and this increase is going to be there in the near future. One of the primary reasons for the popularity of RSS feeds can be contributed to the availability of updated information in a systemized manner and accessible to almost anyone. For the average Internet user, the launch of the Google Reader is being seen as one giant step. It is a powerful tool that is easy to use.

Using the Google Reader

For first timers, using RSS or downloading and configuring the RSS reader can be quite a cumbersome process especially when you can visit your favorite web site and use their advanced search features to look for new articles or topic specific articles/news. There is another breed of people who wouldn’t even try the task of understanding how a new process like RSS feed will work as they have a pre-conceived notion that it might be complicated. This pre-conceived notion gets most of its strength due to the availability of other options.

The Google reader has been hence created to make the pre-conceived notions disappear and to make searching for the latest news on RSS simple and easy. To use the Google Reader, you need to follow 4 easy/baby steps:

? Visit reader.google.com to open Google Reader
? Type your topic of interest in the search box
? You will get a list of results related to your topic of interest. Find the one you want.
? Click “Subscribe”

Did you ever think it could have been so easy? Well! That’s all you have to do to sign up for your favorite feed and the good part is that you can sign up for more than one topic/feed.

What you need to do is click to go back to the Google Reader homepage. On the homepage, you will find a list of feeds displayed on the left-hand side. This is the list that you have subscribed. If you choose any specific feed from the left hand side then you will see all the new posts added on to that particular feed on the right hand side. You don’t even have to search for new or updated feeds!

Hailed as one of the best products from Google, the Google Reader has a high usability and hence will make your life a little more comfortable in a world where knowledge rules supreme; where knowledge is the difference between success and failure.

Is the Google Reader for you?

Since the Google Reader is easy to use and is considered a powerful tool; it will be helpful for anyone and everyone who wants to keep themselves updated on any kind of news from forest fires in the tropical rainforest to Premier league soccer scores. Although the service is meant for every one but the people who will really benefit from it will be the researchers, business professionals, reporters, consultants, analysts etc.

The Features

The Google Reader comes with some value added advanced features, which include:

GMail This: Through this, you will be able to advertise your website or services to others on Gmail. All you need is a Gmail account.

Blog This: This feature will be helpful for those who already have an account on blogger. If you click on “Blog This” then it will open your blog account and you can insert the link on your blog as a reference.

It’s impact on SEO

The Google Reader will ensure that RSS and blogs become an integral component of any Internet Marketing strategy. Since the reader is being targeted at getting more users hence the feeds will soon become more SEO friendly and keyword/key phrase driven.

Standing in the present, it seems that the Google Reader is all set to take on the future!

One of the recent services launched by Google is the Google Reader, which is available at [reader.google.com]. The Google Reader will allow Internet users to search for relevant RSS feeds and manage them too. As a result, Internet users will be able to benefit from the updated information and current news articles or snippets on various topics of their choice.

In the recent past, we have noticed an increase in the popularity and use of blogs as well as RSS and this increase is going to be there in the near future. One of the primary reasons for the popularity of RSS feeds can be contributed to the availability of updated information in a systematized manner and accessible to almost anyone. For the average Internet user, the launch of the Google Reader is being seen as one giant step. It is a powerful tool that is easy to use.

Using the Google Reader

For first timers, using RSS or downloading and configuring the RSS reader can be quite a cumbersome process especially when you can visit your favorite web site and use their advanced search features to look for new articles or topic specific articles/news. There is another breed of people who would not even try the task of understanding how a new process like RSS feed will work as they have a pre-conceived notion that it might be complicated. This pre-conceived notion gets most of its strength due to the availability of other options.

The Google reader has been hence created to make the pre-conceived notions disappear and to make searching for the latest news on RSS simple and easy. To use the Google Reader, you need to follow 4 easy/baby steps:

1. Visit [reader.google.com] to open Google Reader

2. Type your topic of interest in the search box

3. You will get a list of results related to your topic of interest. Find the one you want.

4. Click “Subscribe”

Did you ever think it could have been so easy? Well! That’s all you have to do to sign up for your favorite feed and the good part is that you can sign up for more than one topic/feed.

What you need to do is click to go back to the Google Reader homepage. On the homepage, you will find a list of feeds displayed on the left-hand side. This is the list that you have subscribed. If you choose any specific feed from the left hand side then you will see all the new posts added on to that particular feed on the right hand side. You do not even have to search for new or updated feeds!

Hailed as one of the best products from Google, the Google Reader has a high usability and hence will make your life a little more comfortable in a world where knowledge rules supreme; where knowledge is the difference between success and failure.

Is the Google Reader for you?

Since the Google Reader is easy to use and is considered a powerful tool; it will be helpful for anyone and everyone who wants to keep themselves updated on any kind of news from forest fires in the tropical rain forest to Premier league soccer scores. Although the service is meant for every one but the people who will really benefit from it will be the researchers, business professionals, reporters, consultants, analysts etc.

The Features

The Google Reader comes with some value added advanced features, which include:

G Mail This: Through this, you will be able to advertise your website or services to others on G mail. All you need is a G mail account.

Blog This: This feature will be helpful for those who already have an account on blogger. If you click on “Blog This” then it will open your blog account and you can insert the link on your blog as a reference.

It is impact on SEO

The Google Reader will ensure that RSS and blogs become an integral component of any Internet Marketing strategy. Since the reader is being targeted at getting more users hence the feeds will soon become more SEO friendly and keyword/key phrase driven.

Standing in the present, it seems that the Google Reader is all set to take on the future!