Google Reader was a product in decline with low usage numbers and revenue, and it really wasn't aligned with the way the world/web was headed, this made it hard

Google Reader was a product in decline with low usage numbers and revenue, and it really wasn't aligned with the way the world/web was headed, this made it hard to retain engineers on the project since it was a career dead end. We all have a soft spot in our hearts for Reader, but the world has largely moved on to algorithmic feeds, because that's what most users want. Most users are intimidated by the fact that you have to find people to follow on Twitter, let alone find RSS feeds.