Google Reader’s Looming Closure Casts Large Shadow

Legions of Google product and service users remain in utter disbelief that Google Reader will be shuttered on July 1st.

The looming closure, however, is casting a huge shadow. And it isn’t yet clear which formerly competing service will step up and take the place of Google Reader in dominant fashion, although Feedly is certainly poised to absorb some of Google’s relinquished market share.

One RSS service in particular – Feedly – is attempting to do something more than just become an alternative service ready to capture Google Reader’s refugees.
Feedly recently released the Feedly Cloud, which creates a standalone web-based RSS reader app in addition to connecting all of your feeds into the cloud. From there, developers can hook up their own APIs for various purposes.

Similar to Google Reader’s API, the idea is to allow Feedly’s work to power other readers and in fact the service is connecting into IFTTT right away at launch, and opening up other options for future apps and tools.

This also means that Feedly is available in your web browser (previously, the app required a plugin or extension in your browser to work correctly) and can be pulled up from anywhere.

If you use Google Reader and haven’t chosen a new service to move to, Feedly is a good alternative for you to check out.

The move to the cloud shows that the company is not only interested in grabbing Google’s lost business but also keeping their patronage for as long as possible.