Comments for Bloglines vs Google Reader Update: Can Bloglines Hold On?

Bloglines vs Google Reader Update: Can Bloglines Hold On?

2007-09-05T05:33:34Z

At the end of last week, we posted on Bloglines vs Google Reader - Who's Really Winning?. The answer was: Bloglines, but Google Reader is catching up fast. We've just received a new chart from Hitwise, which also shows Netvibes and Newsgator. So it shows the context of this "two-horse race", as Bloglines GM Eric Engleman described it. Here is the new chart:

Source: Hitwise

But can Bloglines hold onto its lead? On that theme there was an interesting comment on our previous post, by Erkko, who wrote:

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"Even though Blogline still leads, this situation will not last for much longer. Google Reader will overpower Bloglines with the integration to the Google service portfolio (ala. iGoogle already), and especially when Google accelerates their mobile plans. Bloglines just won't have the steam to win this fight."

This is a fair point - Google appears to have a lot of integration options for its Reader. However Bloglines is owned by Ask.com, which has plenty to offer too.

After doing some testing of both Bloglines and GReader over the past week or so, I still think Google Reader is better. So Bloglines has more work to do. But the competition is now much better, since Bloglines Beta was released last week.

Comment from Stephen Glauser on 2007-09-04

2007-09-05T06:40:04Z

I'm a loyal Google Reader user, but if they don't hurry up and implement a search feature very soon, the first company who does will win my service.

Comment from Uma Geller on 2007-09-05

2007-09-05T07:44:14Z

Google Reader better ?

where's the "Search" button ?

there isn't one.

you can't make full text searches in Google Reader.

now explain how this is better, please.

Comment from Lars Fischer on 2007-09-05

2007-09-05T08:08:18Z

I've switched back from Google Reader to Bloglines after the latest update. Google Reader eats up too many resources and is rather slow sometimes. And I don't want Google to know everything about me.

Comment from Richard MacManus on 2007-09-05

2007-09-05T08:40:38Z

Yes, agree re search. The main issue I have with Beta Bloglines is that I can't easily scan all the latest news - e.g. a list of the most recent posts from all my feeds, just titles, no Start Page boxes. GReader gives that to me, but not Bloglines. That's my main use case for a Reader right now, to get the very latest news (and when I have time check on my other feeds that aren't necessarily news).

Comment from RustyS on 2007-09-05

2007-09-05T15:18:04Z

Resistance if futile. You will be assimilated.

As the technology becomes more mainstream people are naturally going to transition into the most mainstream providers of that service. Bloglines has been a staple of early adopters, but I highly doubt its going to be able to hold that recognition with the non-techie crowd. A perfect example would be MyYahoo. Hardcore geeks might scoff at it but have you seen how many people still use MyYahoo? (although the newer version is actually pretty nice) I expect iGoogle will gradually erode that marketshare. But given the increasingly short attention span of the average web user I sometimes wonder if full-fledged readers will ever go mainstream.

Comment from Uma Geller on 2007-09-06

2007-09-06T07:53:22Z

20 hours after my previous post, Google has added search capabilities and other niceties to Google Reader.

That was quick !!!

http://googlereader.blogspot.com/2007/09/we-found-it.html

Who said complaining doesn't work ?

Comment from Alex Miller on 2007-09-06

2007-09-06T11:41:50Z

I love netvibes!
http://www.flairandsquare.com/archives/142

Alex