RSS just got competitive with the demise of Google Reader

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Now that Google Reader is leaving us, the competition for your RSS feeds is just ramping up! This post is about my thoughts around the Google change and a request for my favorite news reader to date: Zite.

Everyone keeps wondering why Google is dropping support for reader? Any business savvy person will tell you, “There is no money in the RSS market.” Ultimately products that a company produces have to make money, right?

My observation is Google is rethinking their customer experience strategy and focusing on smarter touchpoints to drive revenue. It will be interesting to see if they come up with a way to import Reader into Google+ or just let it die entirely.

I am not going to give you another list of RSS readers to figure out, instead I wanted to ask my buddies at Zite some questions about their next strategic move and give them some advice.

  1. Does Zite store all my current linked RSS feeds? Looks like I found some answers on the official Zite blog.
  2. Will I ever be able to manage my RSS feeds within Zite?
  3. Is their a desktop version coming?
  4. If you are going to compete with other readers, you better get Buffer App integrated ASAP! Don’t make me ask again, please.

That is all I have for now. Hopefully Zite keeps serving up great content for its users and doesn’t change like Google Reader. In fact, I would pay Zite $0.99 for that!

Ask and you shall receive… Zite 2.1

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Zite 2.1 Logo

Zite 2.1

A couple of days ago, I was excited to see an update to my favorite “personalized magazine” app. After sharing my thoughts about the Zite 2.0, I felt it was appropriate to give this follow-up post.

First and foremost – I was happy to see Google+ sharing integration restored and tighter coupling with Evernote is a nice feature! Thank you Zite team!

I have no idea if Zite was re-branded based on my previous blog post, but I think it was the right thing to do. It was a confusing brand move and really didn’t fit the purpose of the application.

Other users have left “not so happy” reviews in the iTunes Store regarding icon color. In my opinion, while branding truly matters, the color of an icon can be overlooked when the application is useful. For an example of this, see any Microsoft product.

Holding on to the Zite 1.0 app interface would have been a poor decision from my perspective. The new interface is more organized and the gestures are easier to use; even better in 2.1! Though I still find issues with the new interface, such as the Share button doesn’t always work if you scroll down in an article few – but that is what “sprints” are for.

Two missing elements to Zite sharing are getting integration with Buffer and allowing a +1 in Google+ capability (though that may not be supported yet).

Overall the application is headed in the right direction and, contrary to some reviewers, the team did listen to the feedback that users gave them. You always have to pick and choose what to address and they did a good job.

Zite Update Log

List of updates from the iOS screen.

One last thing that I should point out to the Zite team. Don’t forget to update your favicon on the website!

Zite Website FavIcon

Zite 2.0 User Experience Review

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Last night I downloaded Zite 2.0 with a lot of excitement to see what user interface (UI) changes they had made. I’ve always been a fan of the application, because of the value of their news algorithm  but the user experience was lacking. Here is my take on the changes that I’ve observed so far.

New branding

Zite 2.0 Owl vs. Hootsuite Owly

Zite 2.0 Owl vs. Hootsuite Owly

The new branding was a surprise. My concern is that it reminds me of a slightly plumper Hootsuite owl and I’m not sure if users will connect the wise bird with great tag line of “Curious? Discover Your Interesting.” Cats are curious, owls are wise!

User guide

This was done really well. Upon opening the application I was relieved to see some help in explaining all the UI changes. What was unique and I applaud was the use of animation with the arrow indicators. Nice work Zite team!

User training, with animated arrow indicators

Setup and exploring information

Setting up the application in version 1.0 wasn’t difficult, but you could easily stumble on it again after your initial setup. This problem was remedied by creating the “Explore” section which allows you to personalize your news feed or add popular topics. It has a nice design, using background color contrast to let users know they have entered a different mode of the application.

Explore news and information screen view.

Category/Topic navigation

Previous navigation was not easy to use, forcing users to swipe through a Rolodex of topics and it felt like a “Wheel of Fortune  of what topic you would stop at. This has been addressed with a more industry standard list of topics that users can choose from with confidence and simplified the user journey of explore their favorite topics.

Category / Topic listing view

News feed (Top Stories)

From the start, the Top Stories section has always been a very useful section. Zite 2.0 does not disappoint with this feature. Users can now clearly see what stories they have “Liked” or “thumbs up” and any articles that are “Disliked” fade with a slight transparency allowing user to focus on the next article.

News feed now lets you see if you have "liked" the article.

View articles, accessibility enhancements

When viewing an article in Zite 2.0, features no longer require a tap to view. Many times I found myself trying to “Like” an article and accidentally tapping a link in the article I was viewing. Those days are gone now! The reader view is fast and clean and I really like the accessibility enhancements that were added. My one concern is that if I accidentally block a source, is it easy to unblock it? I’m afraid to use the feature honestly. Perhaps separating useful accessibility features and administration features would be a good suggestion?

Increase or decrease font size in the reader view.

Sharing articles

My one love of Zite has been the ability to share articles on Google+ and other social platforms. I was so disappointed to see that Google+ was no longer a part of the sharing suite. I immediately sent feedback to Zite and got a response from Brian Bejarano. He claimed that only “popular” methods were added in version 2.0, but they are open to suggestions. My take, is that Zite needs to integrate @bufferapp into their sharing features and bring back Google+ posting. What do you think? Give them suggestions: @zite

Zite 2.0 Sharing Options

Final assessment of Zite 2.0

If you are serious about finding information that is relevant to you, then using Zite is the best application to get for iPhone/iPad users. The user interface changes in this latest installment was a leap in the user experience overall, with only a few minor pain points. I give the new UI a grade of an “A-” because of the accessibility block issue I described and the swiping feature was a bit confusing at first. The Zite development team should be extremely proud of this latest version.

Now if only this application, could live on a website? It would replace my Google Reader altogether! Something to think about Zite team.

Don’t forget your user experience common sense

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I read an interesting article the other day that reminded me about how user experience principles never change. This struck me at a time as I am trying to draft my own design principles to use at work. The principles may be fundamentally the same, but how they are applied can vary a lot. Take a look at the 20 Guiding Principles for Experience Design, written by @whitneyhess, which does a nice job of outlining these UX principles. These principles are founded on the research that Jakob Nielsen and many others determined through psychology studies and user testing.

This brings me to the realization that no matter how you write them, or whichever order you list them, the principles will always be found on the most basis concept, common sense.

Common sense is defined as “sound and prudent judgment based on a simple perception of the situation or facts.” This definition encapsulates what user experience is for me. User experience analysts are trying to give users enough facts in a situation to make a judgement. Ideally the judgement the user makes is inline with the business objectives and also leaves enough impression on them to share those facts or the situation with others.

As you begin to find your way in the field of user experience, remember the simple definition of “common sense” is really the first strategy to defining your principles.

Stay the course with your personal social media brand

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Social media icons: LinkedIn, YouTube, Google+, Twitter and FacebookI was lucky enough to be recognized by A Better User Experience as an influential Twitter person to follow when it comes to user experience. I am humbled by this recognition and true to form, I am sharing my recipe to how you can receive this type of acknowledgement.

A while back I made a conscience effort to start communicating information about user experience, SEO, content strategy and accessibility. I had built up a good list of RSS feeds for me and thought it would be nice to share it. I didn’t want to have an auto feed where people would sift through a bunch of articles that may or may not be relevant; I wanted my Twitter and Google+ streams to be useful!

That has been my only strategy and apparently, people like getting information from my Twitter and Google+feeds. So if you want to add value to your personal social media brand do the following.

  • Get educated in the field you want to focus your brand on.
  • Make that your passion at work and outside of work.
  • Usability 101 – Know your audience.
  • Keep a consistent message in your posts.
  • Use content curation to back up your opinion on subject matters.

These things can take your personal brand a long way in social media!

How to get started with Google+

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You have probably heard about Google+ and you want to try using it, but you’re not sure how? All you have heard is something about ‘Circles’ and that it is like Facebook. Well look no further, this post is to help those of you that want to be trend setters find your way around Google+ and use it like the pros!

First, let me debunk the myth that Google+ is like Facebook. It is true that the designs are similar, but Facebook is primarily used for more “family and friends” purposes than gathering information or researching a topic. Most people look to either a Google search or Twitter to find trends and information. Google+ is more like a blend of a Google search and Twitter — not like Facebook at all.

So you’ve got these Circles…

If you follow Google’s instructions on setting up your Circles you may overwhelmed with choosing the right people and putting them into the right Circle. Well, there is an easier way to start following people who interest you without getting that feeling in your stomach about setting up all those ‘friends’ or people you want to follow: SEARCH!

Google+ Search

Using the Google+ search on a topic combines the power of finding people and Pages on Google+, posts within Google+ and a normal Google search into one results page. Google+ Pages are company brands, similar to people profiles. You can filter the results to only show people in Google+ on the topic you search for. In this example, we search on ‘mobile web’:

Google+ filter search results

Instead of going to the Circles section and choosing from people in your address book or trying to use Google’s recommendations, use the search to find key people to follow. This is how the Google+ pros are doing it. The best part about building Circles using Google+ search is that you can name your Circle the same name as your search term.

Looking at the screen capture you may also notice some other useful tools such as saving the search you performed, to speed up your search. You can also filter to “Sparks” – which are essentially Google search results if you went to Google.com and performed the same search. Though, it is my belief that using Sparks gives you slightly better results on a topic than a general Google search. Hangouts are video conferences, which may also be useful in connecting with people for topic research.

Upon filtering the results to “People and pages” you can see that I already have some of these people in my Circles, but Google+ is suggesting some others that I may want to consider.

Google+ People and pages results

In conclusion…

Google+ is gaining in popularity and as more people begin to understand the power behind Google+ search, the more useful the new social medium is becoming. Just last week Facebook announced it was overhauling their search feature, primarily because they are competing with Google — the unquestionable ”King of Search!”

Don’t be afraid to set up a Google+ account and start your experience the way Google should have instructed you. Use the search! And you’ll be a Google+ pro in no time.

For more information about Google+ view my Prezi presentation.