11th
Goodbye Google Reader, Hello Netvibes.
So I’ve been using Google Reader to follow my feeds for a long time. It’s in the Geek Utility Belt basically. You got your Twitter, Facebook, Google Reader, etc.
Recently they did a “redesign”, and quite honestly…I wasn’t impressed. The original design wasn’t all that impressive either. I could never get into iGoogle, just didn’t do it for me and I’ve always had a Netvibes account.
I’m here in Paris hanging out at the Netvibes office, and I asked them about whats been going on, whats new, and how things are going. They’re chugging along, and their team is badass.
I’m deciding to switch for the following reasons:
- Way better design than Reader and iGoogle
- Way easier to use
- Only shows the last 20 stories, because hell…if I walk away from Reader for 4 days, I honestly don’t want to read news from 4 days ago. If something gets hot, I’ll hear about it.
- Facebook Connect. It’s such a slick integration. Share to your Netvibes feed as well as publish as a news feed item on Facebook seamlessly. Right now, the Facebook app that does this for Google Reader is clunky.
- Widget API’s. You can create any type of widget on the Netvibes platform. This is sweet.
- I can read tweets and Tweet right to Twitter from it
- Read my emails
- Interact with Facebook
….and tons more.
Want to import your stuff from Google Reader? It’s simple:
- Go to Google Reader
- click Settings on the top right of the page
- Click Import/Export tab
- Click Export your subscriptions as an OPML file link
- Save the file on your desktop (File > Save As…)
- Access to Netvibes: http://www.netvibes.com
- Click on ‘Add content’
- Click on ‘Add a feed’
- Click on ‘Import’ link
- Click the ‘Browse’ button
- Find the file you just saved
- Click ‘Import’
All your RSS feeds from my Google Reader are now in your netvibes page. If you have folders, they’ll be replicated in Netvibes as Tabs.
Drag and drop your stuff around on Netvibes and I think you’ll see it’s a way easier way to keep up with news. And I think I could get my mom to use it too.
Let me know what you think!
Check out my stuff on Netvibes here: http://www.netvibes.com/drewolanoff
