Sharing and Groups: Feedback Requested on Possible New Feature

There is one feature that I’ve been thinking about for quite a while.  In fact, I did a very simple intro into this idea already by allowing users to subscribe to RIL items posted on twitter.

If you look in the suggestions posted in Read It Later Support, you’ll see this come up in different ways, for example just this morning Barry Behannon posted:

It would be really useful if you could switch between RIL accounts on the fly.

Ex: I have one personal list already and thought it would be nice to create a list for my girlfriend and I to share things…

Currently I have to have the passwords stored somewhere and re-sync everything to switch between the lists. So a quick switch would be very helpful.

Additionally, just as of recent, this was mentioned by Milind Alvares in the Smoking Apples review of Read It Later Pro.

My Rough Thoughts So Far

What I’m thinking would be really helpful is if Read It Later users could create multiple reading lists.  And with each list they could allow others to access it/add to it or even make it fully public.

This would allow users to do a wide range of things.  On one hand, users who just want to have a single private list would be unaffected, but on the other hand a user like Barry (quoted above) could share a list with a friend without managing multiple accounts.  And further still, other users could build public categories of great reads.  For example, #longreads , I really like the idea of it.  Users can contribute articles to groups and share their readings with others.  This could provide some great material for all users.

My biggest concern is obviously making this overly complicated.  Read It Later is meant to do one thing: save a link for later and read it.  I’ve avoided adding starred items and special archives because the point is when you are done you either discard or bookmark using a different service.  I do not want to move away from that.

Where you come in

This would be a major feature and require a significant amount of planning to make sure it’s done effectively and simply while not interfering or complicating the Read It Later experience for users with no need for such a feature.

Therefore, I would like your feedback.  I want to know if you would use this, and if so, how.  What would you like to see?  What do you not want to see?

Contribute to the conversation here: http://ideashower.com/support/read-it-later/multiple-lists/

I think this could be a significant addition to Read It Later and I really would appreciate anything you have to say!