Google Reader Pushed Down

A few weeks back, I had written about the neglect their own feed reader received at the hands of Google. Last week, Google Reader was removed from the top navigation bar (yes, the new black one that was launched in preparation to Google+ release), proving it was not mere overlook and negligence as I had cribbed, but a well thought-after decision. Google Reader is still available from the More menu though, and Google Sites has taken its place on the navigation bar.

This change may be attributed to the declining popularity of Google Reader in the US as compared to Google Sites, which looks like on a rise from the following graph obtained from Google Trends:

Google Sites

  

Google Reader

  

Average traffic from United States in the last 12 months

However, the same graph for all regions shows that Reader is still used by more users than those using Sites, worldwide:

Average traffic from All Regions in the last 12 months