When Google announced on March 13, 2013 that it would be shutting down Google Reader on July 1, 2013, the reasons the internet behemoth gave for their decision to discontinue its still popular Google news reader were a decrease in users and a desire to focus on other areas. Some people chose to read between the lines, and viewed the demise of Google Reader as a significant step toward RSS irrelevance.
Although even the best RSS readers are no longer as popular as they once were, nine percent of web users still depend on RSS as their main source for online news. Sure, that does not seem like a lot, and from the perspective of Google it is probably not worth it. So it is quite possible that Google Reader was becoming an unprofitable burden for Google, while smaller companies probably see the void created by the absence of Google Reader as a lucrative opportunity. After all, there are still over 21 million RSS users out there.
When Google made good on its promise and shut down Google Reader last month, thousands of loyal Google Reader users found themselves searching for the best RSS feed reader to replace it. This may not have been good for Google Reader fans, but it was great news for the Feedly online reader. In fact, within 48 hours of the Google Reader shutdown, Feedly found itself with 500,000 new users. After two weeks, over three millions web users had flocked to Feedly!
Still, many were dissatisfied with the choices of RSS readers available, and companies like Digg recognized this. This prompted Digg to announce its plans to build a capable replacement for Google News Reader. In the meantime, there are plenty of replacement readers beside Feedly and Digg. Among these are Pulse, The Old Reader, and Flipboard.
Only time will tell if there is ever a replacement for Google News Reader. But even if there is never another reader to dominate the RSS landscape as Google Reader once did, there will certainly be more choice of readers than ever before. Ultimately, the best feed reader is the one that is best for each individual RSS user.