Continue to Share items from Google Reader in a way that bypasses Google+

A long time ago, I made a folder in my Google Reader called "Carissa Thorp - Scrapbook", added my Google Reader shared items feed and my Posterous blog feed to it, and made it public using Google Reader's Folders and Tags Settings tab. I used it to update a widget on my blog with items I shared in those places.

Then Google stopped the sharing features in Google Reader. Kind of. Because that "Carissa Thorp - Scrapbook" Public Page and RSS feed is still working. And there's the possibility that it might keep working.

See, I noticed that in their Google Reader Help documentation there's an entry under Organising called Tagging...

But first, an explanation of tagging in Google Reader. Using tagging you can add tags to individual items in a feed to "organise items of interest". Tag items with "favs" or "followup", as Google suggests, and you can revisit those items when you've finished ploughing through your feeds. Kind of like starring, but more customisable.

...So, it appears that Tagging is sticking around. My main evidence: it still has an entry in Google Reader Help, including a link to the now dead "Sharing" feature.

Now, Tagging and Folders are connected in some way I don't understand. So, I can tag an item with "Carissa Thorp - Scrapbook" and it will appear as an item on my "Carissa Thorp - Scrapbook" Public Page. It doesn't, however, appear in the "Carissa Thorp - Scrapbook" Folder in Google Reader. It seems that once you use a word or phrase to label a Folder, into which you've put feeds, you can no longer use that word or phrase as a tag to organise/revisit individual items within Google Reader*. You can, however, still tag items with that word or phrase, and they will appear on the Public Page and in its RSS feed.

Anyway, the point is that, on the proviso that Google doesn't pull these previously created Public Pages, you can still share items from Google Reader in a way that bypasses Google+...and here's the caveat...so long as you once-upon-a-time created a Public Folder in Google Reader.

See, they've pulled the ability to change a Folder's sharing settings; you can only rename or delete them now, no new Public Pages possible. Given this last point, it could be that Google will, in the future, shut down all current Public Pages, but they haven't yet. And as long as that's true, you can continue to use a Public Page to share items.

Hopefully, you bookmarked your Public Page, because that makes things a lot easier. Just let people know where to find it and you're done. They can visit the page and subscribe to your items using the RSS link.

If you didn't bookmark your Public Page, hopefully you remember which Folders you might have made public. Click on the small arrow that appears on the right when you hover over the folder name in Google Reader and choose "View details and statistics". A box will pop up with the Feed URL of that folder. Let people know that URL and they can subscribe directly with that link.

If you don't remember which folders you might have made public, you'll need to find out your Google User Number (hint: it's in that Feed URL mentioned above) and go through the following process to rediscover them:

• Log out of your Google Account or open another browser that isn't signed in to Google. This is because all Folder/Tags have their own page and RSS feed, but not all of them are public. You're looking for the public ones, but if you're logged into your own Google Account, all pages will be viewable, whether they're public or not.

• Update the following link to include your Google User Number where it says "yourusernumber".

http://www.google.com/reader/shared/user/yourusernumber/label/LabelName

• Copy the link and paste it into your browser address bar and then try out each Folder you think you might have made public by replacing "LabelName" in the link with the name of the Folder. If the page loads in the browser (you're logged out of your Google Account, right?) it's a Public Folder Page.

Why you might want to use this method rather than using another service like Tumblr or Posterous, I'll leave up to you to decide**. But the ability is there.

Note that this method doesn't bring back the ability to comment on items, something a lot of people miss. That's well and truly gone. (As is the feature I miss the most, the bookmarklet.)

Hope this helps someone with their Google Reader Sharing dilemma.

* If you subscribe to that Public Page in Google Reader, you can pull those items back in, even into the eponymous Folder itself.

** It's a slightly more private way to share items than a blog.

Posted via email from Carissa's Scrapbook