Slicksta is not in beta

Google has released an RSS Reader as part of their suite of personalization tools. Of course, Slicksta immediately created an account and subscribed to the Slicksta dot com feed.

Basic functions work . . . okay. Many have complained about the service being too “beta” but Slicksta did not find the experience horrible. You can search and subscribe to feeds, browse entries and tag them for future reference. Google has developed a simple and intuitive interface. Slicksta expects no less of the product folks up in Mountain View. Actually, Slicksta expects more! There is a hint at additional sharing features like “Gmail this to a friend” or “Blog this” but these were not working when Slicksta tried them.

ISHO (In Slicksta’s Honest Opinion) the best thing Google can do for this product is integrate it with the http://toolbar.google.com/”>Toolbar. Admit it: subscribing to a feed is not the easiest thing do. You’ve tried several times and you are 0-4, like Greenbay Packers after Week 4. Google should add a button to the toolbar that allows users to subscribe to feeds for sites they visit. Like what Slicksta has to say? Click: Slicksta dot com was successfulled added to your Google Reader. That was easy!

As Slicksta has said before, RSS feeds and syndicated content will change the way we consume information. Google’s raison d’etre is to organize the world’s information and make it easier to find. It follows that Google should develop an RSS tool so users can find and organize feeds. However, Google should go beyond the basics of feed management and make it easier to subscribe to feeds.

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