Google Reader is one of the popular online feed readers around. With the release of the new Bloglines beta, Google Reader is going to have to innovate to retain or improve their market share.
One of the features missed by Google Reader users is the ‘Search’ feature which is in a way funny for an app from Google! Well, it is finally here. And it is implemented better than the new Bloglines version.
A few other feature improvements with the introduction of search:
- Search by – All items, Starred items, Shared items or by folders
- Hide the sidebar – The side navigation bar has now a button to hide it. This improves the readability of fits a ton, IMHO.
- Unread counts can now go to 1000
- Also, the browser back and forward buttons work like it should.
When I wrote about another web based RSS reader, FastLadder, I mentioned that if they were counting on Search as their core feature then they would have to watch out for Google. And now that Google has come out with search, I wonder how the other players in this area can innovate to compete against the two big players, Bloglines & Google Reader. It looks like Bloglines still lead by the number of users.
If you had switched to another web based reader because GReader did not have search, would this bring you back to Google Reader?
For the rest of us who like desktop feed readers, GreatNews is still the best.
