[dechols]

I wanted to reply, but then it asked me to sign up for Google+.

Then it hit me: That's exactly it. Google+ is Google's way of controlling an entire ecosystem of replies to topics. That's exactly the problem with Google+.

Google Reader was great because it gave you a window into the internet. A window that you could shape however you wanted.

[lancewiggs]

Yes. I scanned the first hundred or comments on the post and none said that the experience on Reader (and Twitter) is owned by the reader, while the experience Google + (and Facebook) are owned by Google (and Facebook).

I do not want to share my reading activity with everyone. I just want to sit here on the corner and read. So why make it "social"?