The photo in this post expresses what a lot of people seem to be feeling over recent changes to Google Reader (one of many Google tools that’s been mentioned frequently here at ProfHacker). A great deal has been written about the changes since they rolled out a few weeks ago; some users mourn the loss of the old sharing features, while others (myself included) are less than thrilled with the new design.

Those who miss the sharing features might want to check out workarounds such as ReaderSharer, which can restore some of that functionality. For those of us who didn’t use those features but who don’t like the new design, this may be a good time to consider switching to a different RSS reader.

As it happens, I’ve been using Google Reader only sporadically for the last several months, anyway. My usual tool for reading news feeds is Reeder (Mac and iOS only, alas), which I’ve come to like very much. It has a number of features I appreciate, because they fit so well with my workflow:

• The ability to preview a page
• Instapaper integration (it also plays well with Read it Later)
• Integration with Mars Edit
• Integration with Evernote

Though Google Reader admittedly still has some of these features, I personally find Reeder far more pleasant to look at.

Other popular readers include NetNewsWire (Mac) and FeedDemon (Windows).* Those who prefer to work with a web application might like Feedly, and of course a number of mail applications and browsers can also handle RSS feeds.

If you like the changes to Google Reader, what is it about those changes that you like? If you’re using a different RSS reader, what features does it have that you find beneficial? Let us know in the comments. (*If anyone has a good recommendation for Linux users, feel free to add that to the comments, too.)

[Creative Commons licensed Flickr photo by kplawver]