{"id":1384,"date":"2011-11-02T02:56:54","date_gmt":"2011-11-02T06:56:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.rexfeng.com\/blog\/?p=1384"},"modified":"2011-11-02T02:56:54","modified_gmt":"2011-11-02T06:56:54","slug":"former-google-reader-pm-on-the-update","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rexfeng.com\/blog\/2011\/11\/former-google-reader-pm-on-the-update\/","title":{"rendered":"Former Google Reader PM on the Update"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/p>\n

A take on the Google Reader update from former Google Reader Project Manager, Brian Shih<\/a>:<\/p>\n

Google released the previously announced set of changes around G+ integration and UI updates today, and boy is it a disaster.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

He continues on visuals:<\/p>\n

Taking the UI paradigm for G+ and mashing it onto Reader without any apparent regard for the underlying function is awful and it shows.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

His take on Google+ integration:<\/p>\n

Ok, before we get started – let me be\u00a0very clear<\/strong>\u00a0about one thing. I think integration with G+\u00a0should<\/em>\u00a0happen. Reader friends should be managed in the same place you manage G+, with the same metaphors (whether you think they’re flawed or not). Sharing\u00a0should<\/em>\u00a0utilize the same infrastructure and plumbing that G+ does. I am not objecting to any of these things. Google has clearly made its bets with G+, and Reader should be part of those plans.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I find his views on the money. Google has every right to integrate Google+, but why do they trash the sharing functionality of Google Reader in the process? I understand that Google is trying to focus<\/a>, even though it conflicts with their release-everything-as-a-beta-product DNA.<\/p>\n

My discontent with the new Reader lies in the sharing workflow. It’s too many steps, as Brian explains:<\/p>\n

But the new sharing flow around the +1 button has actually made it\u00a0harder<\/em>\u00a0to share. Where you used to be able to click one button, or hit shift-s to one-click share to your audience, you now need to:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Click +1 (no keyboard shortcuts for you)<\/li>\n
  2. Click the text box that appears that says “Share to G+”<\/li>\n
  3. Then choose your circle you want to share to (or let it default to public)<\/li>\n
  4. Then click Share<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Keep in mind that on top of requiring 3-4 times as many clicks, you also\u00a0now must +1 a post publicly to share it<\/strong>, even if it’s shared to a private circle. That bears repeating. The next time you want to share some sexy halloween costumes with your\u00a0private<\/em>\u00a0set of friends, you first must publicly +1 the post, which means it shows up on your profile, plus wherever the hell G+ decides to use +1 data. So much for building a network around privacy controls.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

    When Reader updated, I said the same message<\/a>:<\/p>\n

    \u00a0Google, please separate the steps of explicitly approving content (+1) and sharing content among friends (sharing to Circles). Just place \u201cShare to Circle(s)\u201d between \u201c+1\u2033 and \u201cEmail\u201d under each Google Reader content piece.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

    While I didn’t spell out the new workflow as Brian did, I was talking about the same issue. Why does Reader make you +1 content that you don’t necessarily want to +1 before you are allowed to share? Why does Reader make you take at least 3 steps now compared to 1 step (hitting shift+S) before?<\/p>\n

    \"\"<\/p>\n

    Luckily, there is a non-intuitive solution if you want to share Reader content to Google+ Circles. Brian shares:<\/p>\n

    If you click on the top right “Share…” field on the OneGoogle bar, you can bypass the +1 button. It’s just completely undiscoverable.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

    Ultimately,\u00a0Google has every right to change Reader as it sees fit. Google provides Reader as a free product to users who derive some benefit. Google wants to align its products toward its bottom line, so they made Google+ the de facto sharing system of Reader. That said, users just want to\u00a01.) read news & 2.) share content. It’s a shame that this latest update made #2 a bloated process.<\/p>\n

    (via googlesystem<\/a>)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    A take on the Google Reader update from former Google Reader Project Manager, Brian Shih: Google released the previously announced set of changes around G+ integration and UI updates today, and boy is it a disaster. He continues on visuals: Taking the UI paradigm for G+ and mashing it onto Reader without any apparent regard […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[926,143,583,927],"class_list":["post-1384","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-tech","tag-brian-shih","tag-google","tag-google-reader","tag-pm"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rexfeng.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1384","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rexfeng.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rexfeng.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rexfeng.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rexfeng.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1384"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.rexfeng.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1384\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1393,"href":"https:\/\/www.rexfeng.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1384\/revisions\/1393"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rexfeng.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1384"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rexfeng.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1384"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rexfeng.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1384"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}