Google Readers are engaged!

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Looking at my referers from yesterday (WordPress shows me where traffic comes from and where they came from) I see that the largest group comes from Google Reader. I was on TechMeme twice yesterday and the fact that I got twice as much traffic from Google Reader than from TechMeme is pretty significant.

The other thing this demonstrates is that the most engaged audiences are now using Google Reader. What do I mean by “engaged?” People who are willing to do something. Click a link. Leave a comment. Buy. Etc.

Engaged audiences are the ones that advertisers and big companies are looking to reach.

Is Google sitting on a gold mine? My referer logs say yes.

Published by Robert Scoble

I help entrepreneurs build their technology business' story, help with getting ready for investors, with other launch plans, and many other strategic things that can help your new startup. Call to talk: +1-425-205-1921 (text first).

Published

63 thoughts on “Google Readers are engaged!”

  1. I will proudly proclaim my use of Google Reader. It may have the occasional duplicate post – but I love the interface. The recent addition of built in e-mailing functionality (pulling from your Gmail contact lists) has been a huge plus for me, too.

    Thanks for posting your observation, Robert. I’ve been wondering how Google Reader is fairing amongst competitors!

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  3. I will proudly proclaim my use of Google Reader. It may have the occasional duplicate post – but I love the interface. The recent addition of built in e-mailing functionality (pulling from your Gmail contact lists) has been a huge plus for me, too.

    Thanks for posting your observation, Robert. I’ve been wondering how Google Reader is fairing amongst competitors!

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  5. I get about 40% of my traffic from Google Reader and even more from google search. Google is definitely in control here. I too use Google Reader and love it.

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  6. I get about 40% of my traffic from Google Reader and even more from google search. Google is definitely in control here. I too use Google Reader and love it.

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  7. I’m sure if all RSS readers reported a referer when accessing your site, that they would also be at the top. TechMeme and Google Reader are two different animals…

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  8. I’m sure if all RSS readers reported a referer when accessing your site, that they would also be at the top. TechMeme and Google Reader are two different animals…

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  9. I’m 100% a Google Reader user and think that alot of it has to do with the crowd that uses Google. Think about the people that you know who basically run their lives off Google, like myself. Gmail, Gtalk, Analytics, Reader, etc. We’re much more interactive as a whole, I think.

    Google Reader kicks butt because no matter what internet-connected device I use, it’s there for me.

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  10. I’m 100% a Google Reader user and think that alot of it has to do with the crowd that uses Google. Think about the people that you know who basically run their lives off Google, like myself. Gmail, Gtalk, Analytics, Reader, etc. We’re much more interactive as a whole, I think.

    Google Reader kicks butt because no matter what internet-connected device I use, it’s there for me.

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  13. I don’t want to sound like a Google ad here but:

    I’ve tried a number of readers, and Google’s is, by far the best. With its shortcut keys and “trends” it makes reading the news and blogs I subscribe to as easy as checking email.

    And, I suppose I fit very neatly into the demographic, because here I am leaving a comment.

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  14. I don’t want to sound like a Google ad here but:

    I’ve tried a number of readers, and Google’s is, by far the best. With its shortcut keys and “trends” it makes reading the news and blogs I subscribe to as easy as checking email.

    And, I suppose I fit very neatly into the demographic, because here I am leaving a comment.

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  15. Pingback: Google Readers are engaged!  »Technology News | Venture Capital, Startups, Silicon Valley, Web 2.0 Tech

  16. What I like about Google Reader is that it combines the “river of news” approach Dave likes so much, with drilldown — you can choose to drill into a specific feed, or category of feeds, easily.

    Now if only they added the ability to search feeds :-S

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  17. What I like about Google Reader is that it combines the “river of news” approach Dave likes so much, with drilldown — you can choose to drill into a specific feed, or category of feeds, easily.

    Now if only they added the ability to search feeds :-S

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  18. I initially tried to use IE as my feed reader, and I did not like the fact that all a feeds content was treated as a single page. It was hard to tell where one post ended and another began.

    After hearing Robert mention he used Google Reader, I gave it a shot. The video of watching Robert work was also helpful. When you are just starting out – it is worthwhile to see the workflow of productive people.

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  19. I initially tried to use IE as my feed reader, and I did not like the fact that all a feeds content was treated as a single page. It was hard to tell where one post ended and another began.

    After hearing Robert mention he used Google Reader, I gave it a shot. The video of watching Robert work was also helpful. When you are just starting out – it is worthwhile to see the workflow of productive people.

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  20. yep, google knows they are sitting on a gold mine and the acquisition of feedburner makes that pretty clear. all those engaged users in google reader and other readers can click away on the feedburner ads. good stuff.

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  21. yep, google knows they are sitting on a gold mine and the acquisition of feedburner makes that pretty clear. all those engaged users in google reader and other readers can click away on the feedburner ads. good stuff.

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  24. I use to use some desktop rss reader until I watched the Tim Ferriss interview of Robert. I figured I’d give Google Reader a go and haven’t looked back since then.

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  25. I use to use some desktop rss reader until I watched the Tim Ferriss interview of Robert. I figured I’d give Google Reader a go and haven’t looked back since then.

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  26. I’ve tried to use Google Reader, I’ve tried to use IE7 to read feeds, I’ve tried Akregator from kDE to read my feeds, but still I keep going back to bloglines to read my “feeds” every day. Why? Portablity… I can’t use Google Reader in Konqueror correctly, heck I can’t even view GMail in Konqi.
    I guess because I use something other then Google Reader I’m not engaged. Serious echo chamber going on here Robert.

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  27. I’ve tried to use Google Reader, I’ve tried to use IE7 to read feeds, I’ve tried Akregator from kDE to read my feeds, but still I keep going back to bloglines to read my “feeds” every day. Why? Portablity… I can’t use Google Reader in Konqueror correctly, heck I can’t even view GMail in Konqi.
    I guess because I use something other then Google Reader I’m not engaged. Serious echo chamber going on here Robert.

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  28. @Prasenjeet – I agree there definitely needs to be some kind of searching mechanism for feeds. That to me is a high priority feature that is missing.

    @Nathen Grass – the interview with Tim Ferris, that is the one I was talking about – it is worth watching.

    @Jonathan – Just because Google Readers are engaged, doesn’t mean other people aren’t. Why does this have to be either / or and not inclusive?

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  29. @Prasenjeet – I agree there definitely needs to be some kind of searching mechanism for feeds. That to me is a high priority feature that is missing.

    @Nathen Grass – the interview with Tim Ferris, that is the one I was talking about – it is worth watching.

    @Jonathan – Just because Google Readers are engaged, doesn’t mean other people aren’t. Why does this have to be either / or and not inclusive?

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  32. Google Reader is definitely handy. Helps me keep track of my feeds easily. I also agree with Prasenjeet and Thomas, feeds search is needed. 🙂

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  33. Google Reader is definitely handy. Helps me keep track of my feeds easily. I also agree with Prasenjeet and Thomas, feeds search is needed. 🙂

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  34. This blog post makes no sense, logically.

    How does the fact that the largest group of referers to Scoble’s blog are from Google Reader prove that Google Readers are engaged (assuming that visiting Scoble’s blog means that the visitor is “engaged”).

    Assuming that visiting Scoble’s blog is a measure of “engagement”, what would prove that Google Readers are engaged would be a high percentage of Google Readers visiting Scoble’s blog, not a high percentage of Scoble’s visitors being Google Readers.

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  35. This blog post makes no sense, logically.

    How does the fact that the largest group of referers to Scoble’s blog are from Google Reader prove that Google Readers are engaged (assuming that visiting Scoble’s blog means that the visitor is “engaged”).

    Assuming that visiting Scoble’s blog is a measure of “engagement”, what would prove that Google Readers are engaged would be a high percentage of Google Readers visiting Scoble’s blog, not a high percentage of Scoble’s visitors being Google Readers.

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  36. From google reader. I’ve to come all the way here to enter comment. I wish I can see and enter comments from google reader itself.

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  37. From google reader. I’ve to come all the way here to enter comment. I wish I can see and enter comments from google reader itself.

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  40. I have just finished travelling for two days from Phoenix to Penang, through Taipei and Bangkok and LA. At every airport I synchronized my feeds, and on every plane ride I read through them offline. What a kickass experience!

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  41. I have just finished travelling for two days from Phoenix to Penang, through Taipei and Bangkok and LA. At every airport I synchronized my feeds, and on every plane ride I read through them offline. What a kickass experience!

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  42. It could be that Scoble’s pimping of Google Reader for months prompted his readers to move to Google Reader. So naturally lots of his referers are from Google Reader, but those may be readers that he already had. But it doesn’t necessarily mean “Google Readers are engaged”, since it could be the case that 99% of Google Reader users don’t visit this blog. :p

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  43. It could be that Scoble’s pimping of Google Reader for months prompted his readers to move to Google Reader. So naturally lots of his referers are from Google Reader, but those may be readers that he already had. But it doesn’t necessarily mean “Google Readers are engaged”, since it could be the case that 99% of Google Reader users don’t visit this blog. :p

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  44. Don’t use Chinese toothpaste.

    Readers as a whole, are a worthless lot, lacking basic informational and archive functions. Google Reader, rates no higher, nor any less. Whatever, shop talk circled. It’s not the tools, it’s what you make of them.

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  45. Don’t use Chinese toothpaste.

    Readers as a whole, are a worthless lot, lacking basic informational and archive functions. Google Reader, rates no higher, nor any less. Whatever, shop talk circled. It’s not the tools, it’s what you make of them.

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  46. I’m afraid your argument is flawed… desktop feed readers don’t generally show up on your referrer logs because they open the browser separately to view the post. Is there a difference between the total referrer count and the total visits for yesterday? That’s the desktop feed reader referrer count. And it doesn’t include people like me who read everything but rarely click.

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  47. I’m afraid your argument is flawed… desktop feed readers don’t generally show up on your referrer logs because they open the browser separately to view the post. Is there a difference between the total referrer count and the total visits for yesterday? That’s the desktop feed reader referrer count. And it doesn’t include people like me who read everything but rarely click.

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  48. @24 “I’m afraid your argument is flawed…”

    You expected something more from Scoble? When aren’t his arguments flawed?

    But he does seem to be pimping Google at an alarming rate of late. Adobe is going to pull sponsorship if he’s not careful. 😉

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  49. @24 “I’m afraid your argument is flawed…”

    You expected something more from Scoble? When aren’t his arguments flawed?

    But he does seem to be pimping Google at an alarming rate of late. Adobe is going to pull sponsorship if he’s not careful. 😉

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  50. pimping Google at an alarming rate of late

    Yeah, so much so that I thought another dreadful Channel 9 Google style. But seeing that he’s college degreeless, that won’t happen. Google hasn’t broken that rule for major others, I don’t see them breaking it now. Arrogance and the cult will kill Google, as it’s really a one-trick pony, and it’s search is so noised of late, half worthless.

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  51. pimping Google at an alarming rate of late

    Yeah, so much so that I thought another dreadful Channel 9 Google style. But seeing that he’s college degreeless, that won’t happen. Google hasn’t broken that rule for major others, I don’t see them breaking it now. Arrogance and the cult will kill Google, as it’s really a one-trick pony, and it’s search is so noised of late, half worthless.

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  52. Andrew: actually, WordPress keeps track of how many subscribers that I have. I have about 200,000 subscribers, and most of which aren’t on desktop feed readers. So, they might be engaged, but they are a far far smaller audience (especially if you add Google’s Reader’s audience and Bloglines and NewsGator’s online audience together).

    Google isn’t the only audience that is engaged, it just is the MOST engaged one. It’s not just me who’s noticed this, either. Tons of other evidence is coming in from other sites that I can’t name around the Internet as well.

    LayZ: when aren’t your arguments flawed? For instance, Adobe doesn’t sponsor me. Second, why would Adobe care what Google’s doing?

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  53. Andrew: actually, WordPress keeps track of how many subscribers that I have. I have about 200,000 subscribers, and most of which aren’t on desktop feed readers. So, they might be engaged, but they are a far far smaller audience (especially if you add Google’s Reader’s audience and Bloglines and NewsGator’s online audience together).

    Google isn’t the only audience that is engaged, it just is the MOST engaged one. It’s not just me who’s noticed this, either. Tons of other evidence is coming in from other sites that I can’t name around the Internet as well.

    LayZ: when aren’t your arguments flawed? For instance, Adobe doesn’t sponsor me. Second, why would Adobe care what Google’s doing?

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  54. Christopher: you’ve been saying that Google is noisy ever since I’ve met you, which was back in 2003. Four years of “noisy” yet it continues to gain market share.

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  55. Christopher: you’ve been saying that Google is noisy ever since I’ve met you, which was back in 2003. Four years of “noisy” yet it continues to gain market share.

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  58. I second the comment about online readers.. Firefox’s Sage extension has been excellent. All the folks I’ve told about it love it. And best of all I don’t have to tell anyone which feeds I’m subscribed to.

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  59. I second the comment about online readers.. Firefox’s Sage extension has been excellent. All the folks I’ve told about it love it. And best of all I don’t have to tell anyone which feeds I’m subscribed to.

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  60. Google reader is fast, functional and simple, what more does one need? Plus now having using Google gears you can have it offline, wonderous!

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  61. Google reader is fast, functional and simple, what more does one need? Plus now having using Google gears you can have it offline, wonderous!

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  62. I’m a day behind on reading “All items” in Google Reader, where I saw this post, but I had to leave comment. I’m not programmer. I tried desktop readers, but it wasn’t until Google Reader that I was *really* able to engage with a lot of blogs. It’s make it easy for business-types to subscribe to and go through a lot of info.

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  63. I’m a day behind on reading “All items” in Google Reader, where I saw this post, but I had to leave comment. I’m not programmer. I tried desktop readers, but it wasn’t until Google Reader that I was *really* able to engage with a lot of blogs. It’s make it easy for business-types to subscribe to and go through a lot of info.

    Like

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