
“... it's my fault that Google shut down Google Reader” - rtpg
https://twitter.com/nickbaum/status/775176446318776325
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worldburger
Am I the only one who's becoming more tuned into these thinly veiled self-
promotion tweets/comments/stories which are actually about something else?

I can't speak to this guy's motivations, but my tuned-up sensitivity to
marketing/advertising has my radar going off.

~~~
amitutk
There is a term for this: Backdoor bragging. Source: Jenna Maroney in 30 Rock.

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SkyMarshal
See also the "humblebrag".

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gmazza
"explanabrag", maybe?

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8_nMrJJFQ8s](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8_nMrJJFQ8s)

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credo
These tweets are great marketing for his new company Storyworth and I mean
that seriously :)

No one (well, almost no one) would have known who this guy was and that a
company called Storyworth existed, but now a lot more people will know about
it and how the founder is older and wiser now compared to when he was at
Google :)

~~~
justin66
Not especially, in my opinion. In light of his comments to the effect that
Reader was a failure because it didn't achieve 100M users, I'm not even
remotely interested in whatever Storyworth is.

~~~
snowwrestler
Why? That's not a number he invented, he's saying that that 100m is the user
number that would have convinced Google execs to continue funding Reader.

The real question--unaddressed in these tweets--is why Google insisted on such
a large user base to keep a project going.

~~~
hkmurakami
Big companies often have arbitrary guidelines such as "only billion dollar
lines of businesses are worth having". In this case 100M users may have been
the threshold where $1B/year in revenue from the product was realistic.

~~~
kbenson
It seems like a large number, but at Google's scale it might actually be
rather small. Google is a large company, and each product is something that
takes resources that could be better spent somewhere else. I don't expect
Honda or Ford to keep around a car that only sells a few thousand a year,
knowing that it requires continual work and refinement, space in their plants
to build, space on the lots to sell, and a business strategy. I don't expect
Google to act any differently.

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ufmace
I used Reader back when it was going, and I'm still not sure why people are so
obsessed over it. I mean, yeah, it was pretty cool, but like 20 replacements
popped up as soon as Google announced they were cancelling it. I switched to
Feedly long ago, and never looked back.

~~~
JauntTrooper
I used Reader daily, but after it was shut down I never picked up a new RSS
aggregator. I stopped reading all but one of those bloggers. A big part of
Reader's appeal was the network -- I enjoyed sharing blogs with friends of
mine that were linked through Gchat. And I say that as someone who never got
into any other social network.

It was probably better for my productivity, I suppose, but I still miss it.

~~~
taeric
I don't think many realized just how seamless it was with a few of Google's
other aborted services. Buzz, I think, was the main way my friends saw what I
commented on. And I would see people's replies in Gmail.

It was surprisingly well done. :(

~~~
likeclockwork
And Google Listen for podcasts!

I basically just stopped dealing with RSS when reader folded up even though it
was adding something to my life. I'm back to checking the same sites over and
over throughout the day.

~~~
taeric
Same here. And... the number of sites has shrunken quite a bit.

I think the thing that had me, was Reader was a great way to expand you
communication in the groups you were already in. I didn't have to join a new
community. I was bringing new topics into mine.

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winteriscoming
8 odd tweets and not much real context/content related to the sensational
title. Sounds more like rambling.

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gramakri
I have to thank Nick for my current startup (we actually say so on our about
page) :-) I used to rely on Reader so much that it was my gateway to the
internet. When it got cancelled, I realized that I needed a way to stop
relying on free centralized services. I wish they had released the code so
that I could have self-hosted this (big thumbs up to parse/facebook for doing
this the right way).

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gnachman
Plenty of engineers would have worked on it for free. Vic killed it. Never
forget.

~~~
jordonwii
Willing to elaborate or point me somewhere to read more? I'd love to hear the
story here.

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trvrprkr
I wonder how many other people in the hierarchy of that product (or really,
any other that met a similar fate) would cast the blame on themselves.
Especially with the legacy that Google Reader has left.

That said, I wonder the details of why it was discontinued (the gritty details
available to the final decision makers) and whether those same people who
blame themselves today might still have decided to discontinue it had they had
the total picture.

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bastage
It's a roll-your-own solution, but tt-rss has been an exceedingly great
replacement for Reader when it closed down. (And as long as RSS exists, I
never have to worry about my service going away.)

[https://tt-rss.org/gitlab/fox/tt-rss/wikis/home](https://tt-
rss.org/gitlab/fox/tt-rss/wikis/home)

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manigandham
Side note: Feedly is a great modern reader.

[http://feedly.com/](http://feedly.com/)

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webwanderings
GV is long been dead. But its death is not as important as the slow death of
RSS itself. Your tweet makes no mention of the value of RSS, which is a
tragedy in itself.

Well, good thing RSS is still not completely dead and there are services like
Digg which are still maintaining a good Reader.

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Grue3
And how many active users does Google+ have now?

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Hytosys
The manager-gone-founder has sympathies and apologies for the destructive
ideology of his capitalist master. Of course. The majority of managers have
this same character -- it's their class nature. Be wary of trusting these
people ;)

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nickodell
Well, get your pickforks.

