Google on Thursday said that it will be revamping the Google Reader interface in the coming weeks and tying it more closely to its Google+ social network.
Google didn't post screen shots of the updated RSS reader, but Alan Green, a Google software engineer, said in blog post that the changes will be similar to those made to Google's search and Gmail pages over the summer. Those updates streamlined the look and feel of the page, making the logo smaller, putting more space between items, and highlighting the section being used in red.
Google will also "bring Reader and Google+ closer together, so you can share the best of your feeds with just the right circles," Green wrote.
As a result, Google will retire options like friending, following, and shared link blogs inside of Reader. Instead, Green said users can now start "prepping Reader-specific circles" in Google+.
"We recognize, however, that some of you may feel like the product is no longer for you. That's why we will also be extending Reader's subscription export feature to include the following items," Green wrote. "Your data belongs to you, after all, and we want to make sure you can take it with you."
That data includes subscriptions, shared items, friends, likes, and starred items.
At yesterday's Web 2.0 conference, Google execs Sergey Brin and Vic Gundotra confirmed that Google+ now has 40 million users who have uploaded more than 3.4 billion photos to the service. Upcoming features include pseudonyms, after users complained about being forced to use real names, as well as a link to Google Apps. At some point, Google+ will also open itself up to brands, but that will be further down the road, they said.
Last week, Google said it would kill its troubled Buzz social feature in order to focus on Google+. For more, see PCMag's full review of Google+ and the slideshow below, as well as our reviews of the Google+ app for iPhone and Android, and hands on with the Google+ App for iPad.