3. Include RSS sharing from Reader into Google Plus, further bridging the two platforms.
It maintains trust between Google and the journalists, techies, and trend-setters who currently occupy Reader. Don’t be evil, Google. Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) is removing social features of its Google Reader application in preparation of the RSS feed reader's imminent integration with the Google+ social network, the company said Oct. 20.
To that end, Google will retire friending, following and shared links to blogs in Reader, which like Google Search, Gmail and Maps before it, is also getting a brand-new design. "We're going to bring Reader and Google+ closer together, so you can share the best of your feeds with just the right circles," wrote Google software engineer Alan Green in a blog post, adding that Reader users can start creating Reader-centric Circles on Google+.
Google recognizes that there is an inherent risk in angering some users by quashing Reader's social features, so the company is letting users export their subscriptions, shared items, friends, likes and starred items.
However, users already follow and share links on Google+ through the Circles sharing construct, so enabling users to easily share Reader blog posts and news stories in Google+ should be a natural activity for most users.
Indeed, Reader's integration with Google+ merely continues the pattern Google has created in integrating the social network with the company's search, YouTube, Gmail and other existing tools.
Google+ is getting traction, having accrued over 40 million users since launching in late June. With Google+, the search provider is engaging rival Facebook in the war for users' attention. Google+ is getting several enhancements over the coming weeks, said Vic Gundotra, the Google senior vice president tasked with running the Google+ effort.
For example, Google+ will eventually enable users to publish content under pseudonyms, allow businesses to build brand pages and integrate with Google Apps. Perhaps most importantly, Google will release APIs to allow developers to build applications that work with Google+. Ultimately, Google+ will be woven across all of Google's Web services.
Google looks close to unleashing Google+ on the enterprise.
Speaking at the Web 2.0 Summit this week in San Francisco, Vic Gundotra, a Google engineering senior vice president, noted that Google+, the company's new social network, soon will be integrated with Google Apps, the company's cloud-based office suite. All signs point to big changes coming not only for Google+ but for Google Apps.
A Google spokeswoman on Friday would only say that the company is "working fast and furiously" to bring features in Google+ to Google Apps.
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"I think that they've positioned Google+ as more enterprisey than Facebook. By combining Google+ and Google Apps, the company could pull its two focuses together.
"For Google to prosper
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