Google announced Google Reader will be shut down in the beginning of July. Ya… let that sink in. For those of us who use Google Reader it’s essential to our day. If you’re a content curator this might be a really big blow to your productivity. So what is the best alternative to Google Reader out there? Feedly… and here’s how to get there.

Initial Reactions

So Google is killing Google Reader. In the past 24 hours the #OccupyGoogleReader hashtag on Google+ and Twitter has been trending. There was a petition posted to the White House (which was taken down). News Flash: They want Google+ to be your news source. While I’m a huge advocate for Google+ it is NOT how I curate my news.

Moving to Feedly

As Dashburst points out, Feedly was started arounded in 2008 as a way to have a quick cloud-based way to organize, read and share your favorite RSS feeds. You can organize your favorite blogs, news sites, podcasts and YouTube channels all in one place. You can also sync your account with Google reader (importing all your subscriptions and folder organization). Feedly is a web based application for Chrome and is also available on the iPhone, iPad and Android devices. With Feedly you can save articles using any device and always stay in sync. You can share content directly to Twitter, Facebook, Google+, Evernote, Pinterest, or LinkedIn also with options for Buffer, Pocket and Instapaper. Feedly has been anticipating the shutdown of Google Reader and has been working on a project called Normandy which is a Feedly clone of the Google Reader API, running on the Google App Engine. So if you’re a Google Reader user, Feedly should have you covered with a seamless transition!

If you’re an existing Reader user simply log into Feedly using your Google account and blamo… it sucks in all your RSS feeds and you’re ready to go.

Make Feedly like Reader

The first thing you’ll notice is that Feedly takes a newspaper kind of feel to it similar to Currents and Flipboard. A lot of people really dig this interface but it you’re like me and want a list view that you can easily scan Feedly can accommodate. Simply hit the cog at the top of the page and hit ‘List view’ and you’re up and running.

Feedly has a save for later function which is similar to the Reader Stars. You simply hover over it and bookmark the article you want to save.

I’d checked out Feedly in the past but because Reader fit my needs so very well I didn’t give it much time. Knowing now that Reader is at the end of it’s lifecycle I decided to check it out again along with many others such as NetVibes, NewsBlur, etc. Feedly is the most advanced and still more like Reader I’ve found. It works everywhere including your desktop, mobile, tablet, etc. Feedly make it simple to transition and is the best of the bunch of alternative RSS readers. Give it a shot.