Filip Brož Every consumer of digital content has surely experienced a similar situation. You are surfing the web and social networks when out of nowhere you come across an interesting article that you would like to read. But you don't have enough time, and if you close that window, it's clear that you'll have a hard time finding it. In these situations, the Pocket app comes in handy, as you can easily save content for later reading.
The Pocket application is nothing new on the market, after all, it previously existed under the Read It Later brand. I have been using it personally for more than two years. However, in recent days, the developers have introduced several new features and improvements. Probably the biggest change is the beta testing of upcoming versions, which anyone can sign up for. You just have to choose which beta version you want to test, and follow the instructions.
In the latest beta of Pocket, you can already use the completely new mode of making hearts (typical Like) and recommending posts (Retweet). Both functions work in recommended posts (Recommended feed), which are transformed into an imaginary timeline, known for example from Twitter. In it, you can follow posts and recommended texts from people you follow.
It was evidently not enough for the developers that users only saved articles in Pocket and then opened the application just to read them. Pocket is becoming another social network, focused on quality content that it can offer without you having to leave it. This transformation has its fans and detractors. Some claim that they don't want another social network and that Pocket should remain as simple a reader as possible. But for others, the "social" Pocket can open the way to more interesting content.
Gone are the days of RSS readers. Most users have abandoned getting new content this way for various reasons. It is now much more popular to get links on Twitter, Facebook and various web surfing. Pocket is integrated into almost all operating systems and applications, so it is very easy to store content in it - often just one click is enough. Whether you save the article on your iPhone, in a browser on Windows or click the Pocket button below the article, you will always find all the content in one place.
At the same time, Pocket will (if you wish) present the saved articles in a much more pleasant form, i.e. clean text, with a maximum of images, trimmed of all other distracting elements that you will find when reading on the web. And finally, you also have all the texts downloaded, so you don't even need internet access to read them. What's more, Pocket is free. That is, in its basic version, but it is more than enough for most users. For five euros a month (or 45 euros a year) you can get new fonts, automatic night mode or advanced search, but you can definitely do without it.
[su_note note_color=”#F6F6F6″]TIP: Using the tool Read Ruler you can easily add the time to read each article as a label in Pocket.[/su_note]
And in the next versions (when beta testing ends), again for all users, the even improved "recommendation feed" will lose stars and retweets. For Twitter users, the environment and the principle of operation are very familiar, and it is quite possible that the content is also the same. If you add friends from Twitter, you can see the same thing on two networks when everyone shares the same content everywhere.
However, not everyone has Twitter or can use it to collect interesting content. For such users, who crave quality content, the social element of Pocket could prove to be very beneficial. Whether through the recommendations of the global community of readers or your friends, Pocket can become not only a reading device, but also an imaginary "recommendation" library.
But it is quite possible that Pocket social doesn't catch at all. It all depends on the users and whether they are willing or whether they even want to change their reading habits that they have developed over the years with Pocket.
[appbox app store 309601447]
By the way... what is the need for the "add to reading list" function in Safari? During the day I collect articles on the Mac and in the evening I read them on the iPad. It works both ways and completely reliably and without an external application.
A good thing, of course, but Pocket is a lot more sophisticated after all. On the one hand, I am not dependent on the platform - so during the day I sit at the PC and I can send articles there, they can also be sorted, tagged according to topics, and the graphic editing itself is better than just in the reading list.
The silly thing is that Pocket tries to be everything it can be without being what it originally promised to be - a proper offline reader. For example, I don't understand why it never learned to remember the last article I read on iPhone or iPad, and instead shows a list of them every time it starts. There will be more of the same unfinished business, and when I factor in the annoying sharing of links via a custom shortener and the recently added warning when opening links from saved articles that you're leaving the "safe space" of Pocket, I mentally couldn't stand it and went back to the Instapaper I used to use long time ago. It's also not perfect in some ways, but for me personally it fulfills that primary function significantly better.