Not only does Adam cover some thoughts on “Google Reader’s demise”, but he also touches on interesting larger ideas of tools versus platforms (Google Reader was a tool), publishers versus distributors and indirectly their relationship to content creators.
“We’re not losing a single RSS reader; we’re losing what many developers had considered a building block upon which they could construct elegant software.…
“Introducing Twitter into the previous discussion offers a nice segue into another topic raised by Google Reader’s closing, that of tools versus platforms. Twitter became popular in large part because of its open API, which enabled developers to create all sorts of Twitter clients and Web services based on Twitter data. But the company has been limiting what is possible, largely because Twitter’s business model relies on selling ads, and it can guarantee display only if Twitter controls the user experience. In essence, Twitter moved from being a tool to being a platform…”