It seems like just yesterday we were complaining about the lack of options for the new “like” functionality in Google Reader. Okay, it was two days ago. And Google has already responded. A new option in the settings menu of Google Reader allows you to “Only show “Likes” by people you follow.”
It’s not quite the on/off switch that some people wanted for the feature, but I’d bet that eventually we’ll see that too. Still, this should ease the pain of those who simply did not care what RSS items random people like. Now, it will only be those users you know, or at least said that you know and want to follow.
I suppose if you really want to turn “likes” completely off, you could just unfollow everyone. But that’s probably not the social evolution Google was hoping for with the product.
[via Mike Knapp]