No more Google Reader … now what?

Google Reader, Google’s service for viewing blogs through an RSS feed, is shutting down July 1.

Why? The company says “usage of Google Reader has declined, and as a company, we’re pouring all of our energy into fewer products.”

Nick Bilton of the NY Times Bits blog says, “One theory is that Google is trying to push customers to Google Plus, its social networking site, where users can track product pages for different news outlets.”

That’s great, but where does that leave you if you’re a fan of Google Reader? Here’s a list of possible alternatives suggested by Alan Henry at Lifehacker.

• Feedly: This top contender has long been a favorite RSS news reader and news aggregator. You can read the news as straight headlines from top to bottom, full articles, tiles or images. You can share stories with friends and post them to social networks. Feedly automatically syncs with your Google Reader account. You’ll find add-ons for Chrome, Firefox, Safari, and mobile apps for iOS and Android.
• NewsBlur: similar to Google Reader but with some useful bells and whistles.They have tem­­porarily stopped free users from signing up for now. Available on iOS and Android.
• The Old Reader: easy to use, fast and looks like Google Reader, including one-click subscription to new feeds. Complete with many of the same keyboard shortcuts as Google Reader, and you can follow other users and share stories with them. No mobile apps yet.
• NetVibes: a social aggregation and dashboarding service, with a robust RSS news reader. You can customize your dashboard and sign up for a mobile site.
• Pulse: relies heavily on its own news filtering algorithms to help you find the stories that they think you’ll enjoy, but you can import your Google Reader feeds via mobile, not web. Pulse handles the syncing. Web app and mobile apps for iOS and Android.
• TinyTinyRSS: a self-hosted RSS reading app. Grab your feeds on any system, as long as you have a web host and you’re comfortable installing it.
• Flipboard: Designed for iPad and iPhone, Flipboard is a personal news magazine. It’s free on the iTunes store.