As Twitter and Facebook grow, Google Reader copies features, adding clutter

The LA Times technology blog critiques the new Google Reader interface.

For example, let’s say we have a news article that we like. Well, might as well click the “like” button, right?

OK, now we’ve told the Internet that we think it’s cool, and we can see a list of strangers who also think it’s cool.

Hmm, we should also share this with our friends to make sure they see it. Let’s click “share.”

No, wait.

Let’s “share with a note.” “This is cool,” we write.

OK, cool. Now, let’s leave a comment.

Wait, we don’t have much to say besides, “This is cool.” Let’s not.

Maybe we’ll tag this as “cool.” Done.

Our cousin doesn’t use Google Reader, but she’ll think this is cool. I’ll click the “email” button to send her a link to it.

In fact, we think this is so cool that we’re going to click the star
button so it will save so that we can come back to it later and just
reflect on how cool it is.

In short, these new features aren’t that cool.