March 17, 2008

Explore Your Interactions with Google Reader

Web applications track many user actions and use them for different purposes: improving the products, finding patterns, building user profiles etc. For example, Google Reader records some of your actions without providing options in the interface to access the data. Here are some addresses where you can find historical data about the items you've subscribed to (click on "View all items" to see all the posts).


* All the posts you've emailed to your contacts:
http://www.google.com/reader/view/user/-/state/com.google/tracking-emailed

* All the posts you have marked as unread at some point (to keep a post unread, you need to uncheck "Mark as read" from the options bar; note that "Mark all as unread" will not maintain this state):
http://www.google.com/reader/view/user/-/state/com.google/tracking-kept-unread

* All the posts you have marked as unread and are still unread (Google Reader calls them "saved items"):
http://www.google.com/reader/view/user/-/state/com.google/kept-unread

* Did you click on a post's main link to go to the original location? You'll find it here:
http://www.google.com/reader/view/user/-/state/com.google/tracking-item-link-used

* Did you click on a link from a post's content? The post should be included in this list:
http://www.google.com/reader/view/user/-/state/com.google/tracking-body-link-used

* If you use the list view, you can find the list of posts you've actually read (or at least you have clicked on the title):
http://www.google.com/reader/view/user/-/state/com.google/read

* Are Google's recommended feeds interesting? Check the list of recommended feeds you've subscribed to:
http://www.google.com/reader/view/user/-/state/com.google/recommendations-subscribed

* Did you accidentally dismiss a recommended feed? You'll find it here:
http://www.google.com/reader/view/user/-/state/com.google/recommendations-dismissed
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36 comments:

  1. Tim BroderMarch 17, 2008 at 8:58 AM

    Very Nice. I'll have to add these links to a list of "API Links" for Google reader that I've compiled here

    Thanks

    ReplyDelete
  2. PeterMarch 17, 2008 at 9:50 AM

    Wow, great find !

    I wasn´t able to subscribe to these feeds though; but i found that once the links are tweaked a bit you can subscribe to them.

    If you substite this part of your links:

    user/-/state/com.google/tracking-kept-unread#stream/

    ...with this part:

    feed/http://google.com/reader/atom

    ...the when you clivk the links the results atre the same; but you can subscribe to them now as well.

    Cheers,
    Peter

    ReplyDelete
  3. Alex ChituMarch 17, 2008 at 9:53 AM

    Or you can copy the feed's URL and paste it in the "Add subscription" box.

    ReplyDelete
  4. PeterMarch 17, 2008 at 10:00 AM

    ...with the original links that didn´t work for me...

    ReplyDelete
  5. Alex ChituMarch 17, 2008 at 10:26 AM

    I see. These links work, but you need to replace "-" from the URL with your user ID. How to find this ID? Go to Google Reader and type in the address bar:

    javascript:prompt("User ID", _USER_ID);void(0);

    ReplyDelete
  6. testMarch 17, 2008 at 11:13 AM

    This is a good doc at this address : http://code.google.com/p/pyrfeed/wiki/GoogleReaderAPI

    ReplyDelete
  7. George B. MogaMarch 17, 2008 at 12:52 PM

    Great post!
    It's a shame that the Reader doesn't integrate these informations in the UI, for example in the Trends page.

    ReplyDelete
  8. UnknownMarch 17, 2008 at 2:29 PM

    why the hell would they need these information ?

    i find myself intruded in my privacy.

    ReplyDelete
  9. AnonymousMarch 17, 2008 at 6:18 PM

    Great job, now someone should share the GreaseMonkey script to automatically add buttons for that

    (I can't, my keyboard is broken ;)

    ReplyDelete
  10. AnonymousMarch 17, 2008 at 7:34 PM

    isn't this article just a excerpt of the one Jean-Noël Anderruthy provides? ionut you should really add a link to the source.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Alex ChituMarch 18, 2008 at 2:24 AM

    The source is Google Reader's JavaScript code, more exactly this file:

    http://www.google.com/reader/ui/3265599920-en-scroll.js?hl=en

    I was trying to see if there's way to make Google Reader's reading list public and found a lot of other state values, including "skimmed" and those mentioned in the post.

    ReplyDelete
  12. DKMarch 18, 2008 at 11:04 AM

    Alex, This is one of the best posts by you ever! Keep up the good work! Thank you for the useful content.

    ReplyDelete
  13. AnonymousMarch 20, 2008 at 6:24 AM

    The one that lets you see what items you've clicked on has been incredibly useful at helping me find out what RSS feeds I don't get anything interesting from.

    ReplyDelete
  14. SteveMay 5, 2008 at 3:52 PM

    Alex,

    Have you noticed the odd way that Reader treats these feeds?

    I added them by adding my User ID in the URLs you provided, then pasting them in the Add subscription box.

    When you look at the feeds, they are missing the Feed settings... drop down, as well as the new items and all items links.

    If you view them by pasting the URL after the standard feed viewing URL (http://www.google.com/reader/view/#stream/feed%2F...), you'll get the "You are not subscribed..." message and the Subscribe link, even though you are subscribed.

    Do you have any insight on what might be going on here?

    ReplyDelete
  15. AnonymousJune 13, 2008 at 8:11 AM

    Fascinating!


    Shel

    ReplyDelete
  16. AnonymousAugust 7, 2008 at 3:23 AM

    Good thanks for info but not able to see contents in above links

    ReplyDelete
  17. AnonymousNovember 23, 2008 at 1:46 AM

    I have copied and feed's URL and paste it in the "Add subscription" box. and it worked .thanks

    ReplyDelete
  18. AnonymousNovember 23, 2008 at 1:49 AM

    Well some of the information needed is kind of intruding your privacy. isn't it?

    ReplyDelete
  19. AnonymousNovember 23, 2008 at 1:51 AM

    The original link sometimes doesn't work. to solve that problem you can use the process described by Peter in the initial posts. that really worked for me.. hope it works for you...

    ReplyDelete
  20. AnonymousFebruary 28, 2009 at 4:17 AM

    I wasn´t able to subscribe to these feeds though; but i found that once the links are tweaked a bit you can subscribe to them...

    ReplyDelete
  21. AnonymousFebruary 28, 2009 at 4:17 AM

    Or you can copy the feed's URL and paste it in the "Add subscription" box...

    ReplyDelete
  22. AnonymousMarch 4, 2009 at 9:02 AM

    I have to agree with some people that are refering that some of the infos are intruding your privacy.

    ReplyDelete
  23. AnonymousMarch 5, 2009 at 8:45 AM

    I dont think that any info over here is intruding any policy.

    ReplyDelete
  24. AnonymousMarch 5, 2009 at 8:47 AM

    I have never been successful with all these feed things. don't know whats its purpose.

    ReplyDelete
  25. AnonymousMarch 13, 2009 at 11:41 PM

    Thanks for this great post.
    I have add this post on my bookmarks websites so I can access it future.

    ReplyDelete
  26. RaadDirApril 3, 2009 at 11:44 AM

    Thats why I love Gmail!!

    ReplyDelete
  27. MikeApril 23, 2009 at 2:47 AM

    Thanks Alex this one too is best as you have all other posts of yours. I love reading your posts and this one is awesome and great too.

    ReplyDelete
  28. khanJanuary 29, 2010 at 11:34 PM

    great feeds. Already subscribed :)

    ReplyDelete
  29. MalEbenSoMarch 22, 2010 at 11:40 AM

    Hello dear Google Reader afficionados and gurus,

    is there a (Javascript) bookmark that will send the currently open webpage to my Google Reader "recommended pages"?

    Currently I can easily recommend any article from subscribed feeds with Google Reader's built-in button. But to recommend _any_ URI implies many more clicks and is hidden in Reader's UI on the iPhone.

    Thanks for your help.

    ReplyDelete
  30. Andrew JamesApril 29, 2010 at 2:31 PM

    The Feeds are very helpful, i had subscribed and forward to some colleagues.

    ReplyDelete
  31. UnknownMay 15, 2010 at 3:20 PM

    Sorry to dig up this old post, but I'm looking for a way to call the obfuscated Google Reader javascript commands... and am having trouble determining what actual function is called when the "Next Items" button is pressed or the spacebar is hit.

    I've tried using Firebug as well as FireEvents to track it down, but it's just too well hidden. Any ideas? Something that I could type into the toolbar and make it run, like 'javascript:SH("entries-down", "click");void(0);'

    Thanks in advance!

    ReplyDelete
  32. Alex ChituMay 15, 2010 at 3:37 PM

    V.De(); --> next item
    V.ig(); --> previous item

    (I found the functions by looking at the code that deals with keyboard shortcuts and searched for "j" and "k".)

    ReplyDelete
  33. Gutschein PiratenNovember 21, 2010 at 11:40 AM

    Nice Links. How did u find them?

    I think it's really useful to give some of my colleagues and friends these links so they can subscribe to my readerlist.

    Thanks for that!

    ReplyDelete
  34. JhonApril 2, 2011 at 3:00 AM

    Wow,thats a great feeds there iam so happy to find it Thanks for the information.

    ReplyDelete
  35. PerdeApril 1, 2012 at 7:18 AM

    great feeds. Already subscribed :) :)

    ReplyDelete
  36. UnknownAugust 11, 2016 at 12:29 AM

    i want to add my village name in google maps.

    Address :-VILLAGE, KAUKTAPUR, POST. INJUA RAMPUR AMAULI THAKURAN KANPUR DEHAT,State :-UTTARPRADESH , Pin Code:- 209302

    ReplyDelete

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