I recently configured Google Reader to send link information to my own custom website, so I can easily share links using my own system. Using the web interface, there is a “Send To” drop-down that lets you share Reader posts to popular sites like Facebook and Twitter, or your own custom site:

Under Settings > “Send To,” you’ll see a section for configuring your own site integration:

Click “Create a custom link,” and fill in the details:

The only real important field is URL. It should look something like this (pointing to your own domain):

index.php?page=stream&link_source=${source}&link_title=${title}&link_url=${url}&link_urlshort=${short-url}

Notice the URL parameters above:

• link_source
• link_title
• link_url
• link_urlshort

Each of these are mapped to a Google Reader variable that is included when you click “Send To” (and choose your custom site):

• ${source}
• ${title}
• ${url}
• ${short-url}

For example, the actual URL would look something like this:

index.php?page=stream&link_source=Jeffrey Zeldman Presents%3A The Daily Report&link_title=AEA Minneapolis&link_url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.zeldman.com%2F2010%2F05%2F06%2Faea-minneapolis%2F&link_urlshort=http%3A%2F%2Fbit.ly%2Fa7dYGX

So on your own site, you simply capture those URL parameters and process them in your own application.

Above we have a simple form that is used to submit new links, to be displayed however you’d like within your custom application.

It’s a shortcut that can save you some copy/paste efforts, especially if you use Google Reader a lot.