So! I asked where Google Reader fans were going to migrate to after its untimely demise. There seem to be four main camps. I’m also going to be publishing this publicly, so don’t be alarmed if you see it elsewhere.
1.) Sadness.
It’ll be OK. At least there’s new Daft Punk and Arrested Development this month.
2.) Once Bitten, Twice Marked All As Read
Some folks are going back to a desktop RSS reader, like lovers once spurned who need to learn to trust again. Vienna and NetNewsWire are the most popular options here. I personally use Vienna as my secondary reader to check my own feed. It’s very free and very good.
3.) Fuck It, We’ll Do It LIVE
Another interesting minority are the people who are opting to run their own cloud-y RSS service. Tiny Tiny RSS is the winner here, with a few folks choosing to host their own Newsblur. (An open source but also hosted service.)
4.) I Have a Type and I Date My Type
The majority of people who replied are moving to a new hosted RSS reader service. Feedly and The Old Reader seem to be the most popular of them. Netvibes is a strong third, which I attribute to the other two being new and shiny. Only a couple people mentioned Feeder.co, but I’m including it because the website is so darn nice.
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+ What am I Doing?
I’m going to try Feedly and The Old Reader, but I’m holding off on a decision until there is a clear path forward for Reeder. I’m a sucker for Reeder and use all three versions- iPhone, iPad and Mac desktop. It looks like it will at least tie into Feedbin, so that’s very much on my radar as well.
Reeder *makes* RSS for me in a way that other apps never did. I’m not a big web app person, though I do value cloud-based syncing services. Feedly looks wonderful, but I am put off by apps that default to sexy magazine-style interfaces. That’s just me.
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+ Webcomic friendly?
If you or someone you know represents any RSS service and would like to tell me how awesome your company is for reading comics, I am all ears! I talk to a lot of other webcartoonists and would love to spread the word.
Do you work on a “webcomics reader app”? I’ll be honest, you’re going to be starting off at a disadvantage if you write me. I have a strong bias towards full-fledged RSS apps and services. I think internet comics are better served being part of the entire world, not a self-segregated corner of it.
If you can’t comment where you’re reading this, the best emails to reach me at are dieselsweeties@mac.com and rstevens3@gmail.com
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If you found this article helpful, please feel free to publish it with a link to the Diesel Sweeties site and my twitter.
I run a full-feed, ad-free-except-for-my-own-stuff, personally written and curated RSS feed of my comics here. I publish my RSS using a clever Mac app called Feeder.
I do not for the life of me understand why more webcomics do not run a full RSS feed. (Boo hoo, you lose some banner impressions while keeping more savvy readers around longer. BOO HOO.)
This is important to me as well.
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