Categories: Articles

Google Reader Shared Items – Are You Sharing?

Some of you might read this Blog posting and ask yourself if I’ve either lost my mind or completely fallen asleep on this functionality. The answer, in short, is possibly and yes. One of the features I’ve always loved about Google Reader is the ability to “Add Star” . This enables you to mark (and save) a news item. When I’m quickly glancing through my river of feeds, this tool acts as a filter for the stuff I really want to focus on and read. Plus, as a bonus, I use it for inspiration to create content for this Blog and the Six Pixels Of Separation Podcast.
In the past little while, I’ve fallen in love with the “Share” function in Google Reader. I had seen it when I first switched over to Google Reader, but I didn’t pay it the proper attention. Here’s what happens: if you find a news/feed item that you like (and you think others will like), all you have to do is hit the “Share” button at the bottom of the news item and Google Reader places it on a public Web page that looks like a minimally designed Blog page.
You can view mine here: Mitch Joel’s Shared Items – Google Reader.
What is the best part about this Google Reader Shared Items page? Yup, there’s a RSS (subscription) function. So, if you like the stuff you read here in the Twist Image Blog, odds are you’ll love this behind the scenes look into what news, insights, Blog postings, etc_ inspire the content here.
What more would I love to see on this Mitch Joel’s Shared Items page? Obviously the ability to customize the look and feel (but only a little bit), and it would be awesome if I could change the URL from: http://www.google.com/reader/shared/01165003178775753405 into something personal like: http://www.google.com/reader/shared/mitchjoel.
Getting a tad more technical, it would be cool to create some channels where I could aggregate a bunch of individual Google Reader Shared Items pages into one feed that I could subscribe to. My guess is Christopher S. Penn (Ninja) will chime in here with some quick fix or Yahoo! Pipes play to make this easy and doable.
In the meantime, if you’re using Google Reader, I’d love to know if you’re digging the Shared Items function and if you ever look at your own Public Page to see what’s got you interested and inspired.

Mitch Joel

Mitch Joel lives at the intersection of technology, business transformation and consumer culture. He is the Executive Director of Next Era Institute, a strategic intelligence platform helping leaders understand the forces reshaping business, technology, culture and society. The Institute identifies which shifts matter, explores their wider significance and translates them into strategic direction and momentum. Mitch is also a globally recognized keynote speaker. He has delivered thousands of presentations across both B2B and B2C industries to organizations including Google, Walmart, LEGO, Shopify, Microsoft, Procter & Gamble and Unilever. Strategy Magazine has called him “one of North America’s leading visionaries.” Mitch built his career by working directly inside the waves of change that reshaped modern business. He founded and built a digital marketing agency that worked with some of the world’s largest brands and was later acquired by WPP, where he served as President of a firm operating in 25 countries with almost 3,000 employees. Mitch is the bestselling author of Six Pixels of Separation and CTRL ALT Delete, and the host of Thinking With Mitch Joel, one of the longest-running business podcasts in the world. His writing and commentary appear in outlets including Harvard Business Review, Fast Company and Inc. Magazine. He is a member of Dr. Marshall Goldsmith’s 100 Coaches and was named to the Thinkers50 Radar. Mitch also hosts Groove – The No Treble Podcast, documenting the oral history of electric bass players. Mitch is also Co-Founder of ThinkersOne, a platform that enables companies to bring personalized thought leadership from world-class experts into meetings, events and off-sites in focused 15-minute bursts.