Google Reader and How People Think

I have been thinking and reading a bit about the response to the termination of Google Reader and I have been a bit surprised, but should not really have been, by those who felt it was no loss. For them perhaps. But Google Reader is an artifact of how some people think.

You see my computer screen is organized for efficiency. I have folders in the center of the screen, not just piling up as Microsoft suggests and filling up the screen. Mine are alphabetically organized and then within each is specific applications. Files are organized by topics, subtopics, etc. Google Reader is also organized that way.

I want to watch as topics may come by, I could care less about the images, unless I seek out the specific article. Google Reader let's me know what is new say in a specific area and as some reader may not I often then write upon that in detail, for better or worse. I leave that up to the readers.

But sifting through masses of online data real time to see what has become new and how to fit that in to current research and writings is one of my organized ways. Twitter is totally useless. I have an account, I had to get one for something that I now forgot. I have Linkedin, and it has become the Ginza strip, all bright and useless. I left Facebook years ago, and Google+ makes no sense at all. There just seems to be stuff pasted by others and I have no idea why.

But if you are goal directed, with an organized mental bent, then Google Reader was spot on. If you are a Facebook fanatic, then it would make no sense. Google Reader was for those who did something with what they obtained, Facebook is a narcotic. It is Crazy Bird of the social set.

Google Reader led you to new ideas which made you modify and expand old ideas, it led to challenges, it led to thought. Google Reader was for the organized mind, not the idle mind.

Thus there is a potential wealth of information on how different people think. Social media is for those who want others to think for them. Perhaps a great marketing tool. Google Reader, plain and simple, is for those who want to think for themselves. This tells me something about the folks at Google. They are changing, and perhaps not for the best. Pity!