Google Reader Adds Recommendations And Drag & Drop

The Google Reader Blog announced that they have added two new features unique to Google Reader but not unique to many other RSS readers. The new features are “recommendations” and drag and drop capabilities.

Google recommendations can be found on the top right side of the Google Reader home page or via the directory page. It basically offers you suggested blogs based on what you have already subscribed to. Like I said above, many other RSS readers offer this capability.

Here are screen captures of my Google Reader Recommendations:

One problem: I have subscribed to several of my recommended blogs. Why is Google suggesting duplicate blogs? I suspect that the RSS feed URL I used to subscribe to those blogs are different. Yes, many blogs have multiple feed URLs.

Google’s help center explains that the list is “automatically generated” by using “feeds you’re already subscribed to, as well as information from your Web History, including your location.”

Another feature new to Google Reader is the drag and drop capability. In fact, just yesterday morning I wanted to use that feature to move one of my subscriptions to a different folder and then as I tried it, I remembered that Bloglines had that capability but Google Reader did not.

Here is an example of me moving my Search Engine Land subscription to the top of this folder:

Google Reader’s New Recommendations Exciting, but Insufficient at Read/Write Web has a wonderful take on this announcement and what is lacking.

More coverage of this announcement at Techmeme.