Reader and Talk are Friends!
Context & Ripple Effects
Google has connected Google Talk directly into Reader, so the people you already IM are now the audience for your shared items — no new friend-adding step required. The integration was confirmed the same day it shipped, and Micro Persuasion's pickup framed it pointedly: rather than launching a social network, Google is assembling one from parts it already owns, starting with the address book.
First-order effects
- Reader users see their Google Talk contacts' shared-item activity inside the reader itself, turning a solo RSS inbox into a live channel between existing IM buddies.
Second-order effects
- Standalone feed readers now compete against a product whose social graph comes free from Gmail/Talk contacts, pressuring rivals to bolt on their own sharing-and-contacts layer or concede the 'read together' use case.
Third-order effects
- If Google keeps wiring its properties together through shared login and contact data, the durable advantage shifts from any single app to the interlinked account graph — a structural moat that independent feed readers cannot replicate by matching features one at a time.
The trend: Consumer web applications are converging around implicit social graphs built from existing contact lists and IM rosters rather than new standalone social-network sign-ups.