Google Reader Adds Conversations

One of the good feature in Google reader is the ability to sharing something interesting with your friends. Many times you find some interesting article, you can share it easily with friends just by clicking on a share button. Google reader has recently added new features like the ability to choose friends and share items with a note.

However with the yesterday’s announcement about new feature called conversions, it make more sense about sharing. This conversations feature enables your friends to reply to shared items with comments, allowing you to have conversations with your friends right inside Reader. Comments can only be seen by friends of the person who originally shared the item.

To get started, click "Comment View" at the top of your Friends' shared items in Reader, or just write a comment by clicking "Add comment" at the bottom of any shared item.

What's new with this feature:

• You can comment on any items that you share or that have been shared by your friends.
  
• In order to keep track of conversations, you can check out the new "Comment view" which is optimized for tracking conversations and commenting. Comment view is a little different from your normal reading mode because it sorts the list of items by most recent comment. When there are new comments, the "Comment view" link will appear as bold. You can even read the full text of the items in this view by clicking the "Expand this item" (which will mark it as read).
  
• If you see a comment icon on top of a friend's profile picture in list or expanded view, it means there are comments on that item (this helps you decide what to read first.)
• When more than one of your friends share the same item, you'll see a separate conversation under each person who shared it, together in the same view.           
• And don't forget, you can always read and add comments on your iPhone.

Some things to keep in mind:

• Comments can only be seen by friends of the person who originally shared the item.
• Comments are not yet available in the "All items" view.
• Currently, you cannot comment on items in a shared items subscription or on a shared tag; comments can only be made on items shared by friends.
• This release is English-only for now.