Google Reader goes social

As you may or may not have already noticed, it's now possible to 'like' your Google Reader RSS feed items by clicking the "Like" button at the bottom of the post or pressing the "L" key. Google has followed in the footsteps of Facebook in order to get more user interaction. The new social features also include the ability to search for people who are sharing RSS entries with certain keywords. This allows users with similar interests to connect without personally knowing each other.

With this added visibility also comes the need to protect ones privacy; Google Reader allows you to specify which people you want to give permission to view your shared items. This has long been an issue among users who wanted to share items, but not with the whole world.

Google is moving in the right direction by implementing these features. Though the question remains; now that there is yet another option, besides Facebook, Twitter, FriendFied, Digg, StumbleUpon, etc. to share content... Which one(s) will you actually use?