This is probably old news, but I've only just found out about it. Google Friend Connect will discontinue on the 1st March. For those who don't know what this is, this is the widget that allows you to display followers on your blog - and allows bloggers to follow you.
I'm not too sure what this means entirely. I think, if your blog is powered by blogger, you are fine. You won't lose any followers. But if your blog is powered by a third party site, say Wordpress or other such blog hosting sites, then you will lose them (please, someone correct me if I'm wrong here).
I think it also means that you won't be able to follow a blog that is hosted by a third party site. That means I'm going to lose a lot of good blogs from my list!
I only bring this up because I've read two posts today that have mentioned it. TWO. And no other mention from any other blog! There are so many other bloggers out there and I'm concerned that they don't realise what is about to happen. I may sound vein going on about the amount of followers we all have, but some blogs have hundreds of followers. They've worked really hard to establish themselves and have earned that amount. It'd be pretty shitty for all that work to be thrown back in their faces.
They're suggesting, if this is to affect you, that you create a google+ account and gain your followers through there via a widget on your blog, but this is something that will need building up again.
Here's a link to a blog where you can read more about it
http://blogging.nitecruzr.net/2011/11/google-friend-connect-accessory-to-be.html
If I'm wrong, if I'm being totally blonde about this, then I apologise for stirring up a fuss over nothing, but if I'm right...
I feel it's only fair that if bloggers are unaware of this event, they should know. (and if anyone else can explain this all to me in layman's terms, I'd be much appreciated)
The majority of blogs out there are Blogger, but there are lots that aren't. I'm not really sure what it all means either. I'm still pretty new to the whole thing anyway, and I've learnt about GFC and still don't know what Google+ means. Most Wordpress sites I see don't have the GFC - I follow them via email as that's the simplest alternative for me. But there are blogs that appear to be their own website domain (ie, no "blogspot") but otherwise have all the attributes of a Blogger blog (GFC etc). Will they lose their widgets? Bummer for them and it'll be annoying to resubscribe to loads of blogs. Guess we'll have to wait and see.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I don't know what will happen, but I do know that more people should have mentioned it by now. It was decided last year that Google were going to terminate GFC - but I'm only just hearing about it with a week to go. How many other people out don't know about it?
DeleteHmmm..I had not heard about this...this shall be interesting...
ReplyDeleteIt is kind of old news. I blogged about it back in November 2011.
ReplyDeleteSupposedly anyone not on a Google foundation (Google + or Blogger) will lose GFC. I read blogs off Google Reader so I won't lose anyone even if they're not on Blogger. You can also subscribe to my blog on email too. I think a lot of people have that option on their blogs now, so there are alternatives.
I hadn't heard of this; thanks for sharing. It's a very interesting update.
ReplyDeleteI shall wait and see...then panic...then find out what's gone wrong...then fix it.
ReplyDelete