Google Reader

Google Reader was the calm, powerful inbox for blogs and news feeds before social timelines swallowed the open web.

Reader gathered updates from chosen feeds into one place. Instead of remembering which blogs to visit, a reader could return to a personal collection and see what was new. The selection of sources gave the experience a sense of ownership that was different from relying on a platform's general social feed.

Its shutdown mattered because that collection could become part of a daily reading habit. The larger idea survived through other feed readers, but moving to another tool meant rebuilding comfort with the interface through which the web had become manageable.

Google ended the RSS reader despite an intensely loyal user base.