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To Followers of Classic Style for the Average Guy. . .

IMPORTANT: Google Friend Connect (GFC) & Blogger follower changes

I've noticed that on a couple of days, I've suddenly lost a significant amount of followers on Google Friend Connect (GFC). While you do tend to lose a follower here and there, the sudden loss of this many followers seemed strange to me. Another blogger recently googled to see if GFC was experiencing issues (back in 2011 they phased out GFC for non-blogger sites, so wouldn't be the first time).

 Apparently, starting the week of January 11th, Google has been slowly adding this requirement: you now MUST have Google account in order to follow blogs through Google Friend Connect. If you follow blogs with Twitter, Yahoo, Orkut, or other Open ID providers, you will lose your subscriptions to blogger blogs via GFC. 

 Fortunately, if you'd like to continue receiving updates from me, you could do as they suggest and sign up for a Google account and re-follow your blogs.  Thanks!

 Here's the original message:

Posted: 
In 2011, we announced the retirement of Google Friend Connect for all non-Blogger sites. We made an exception for Blogger to give readers an easy way to follow blogs using a variety of accounts. Yet over time, we’ve seen that most people sign into Friend Connect with a Google Account. So, in an effort to streamline, in the next few weeks we’ll be making some changes that will eventually require readers to have a Google Account to sign into Friend Connect and follow blogs.


As part of this plan, starting the week of January 11, we’ll remove the ability for people with Twitter, Yahoo, Orkut or other OpenId providers to sign in to Google Friend Connect and follow blogs. At the same time, we’ll remove non-Google Account profiles so you may see a decrease in your blog follower count.


We encourage you to tell affected readers (perhaps via a blog post), that if they use a non-Google Account to follow your blog, they need to sign up for a Google Account, and re-follow your blog. With a Google Account, they’ll get blogs added to their Reading List, making it easier for them to see the latest posts and activity of the blogs they follow.

 We know how important followers are to all bloggers, but we believe this change will improve the experience for both you and your readers.

Posted by Michael Goddard, Software Engineer

Comments

  1. Glenda MooreJanuary 28, 2016 at 7:02 AM

    Hi Heinz-Ulrich,

    I didn't know about the above. Brief explanation of what happened on this end: a few weeks ago someone hacked my Facebook account, which I had accessed probably four times in the last year, so I closed it permanently. Then started thinking about my social media participation, of which now only remained Google+ (I did a brief stint on Twitter a few years ago, then cancelled; last year did a stint on Instagram, then cancelled). I decided to disengage completely, so closed my Google+ account, which may have affected my Google Friend Connect, I don't know, I didn't think about it.

    As far as my social media participation, if it matters to your blog set-up: I follow nearly all the blogs I read through Bloglovin', yours included, though I'm not enchanted with their service, but don't want to spend the time right now to change to a similar service. I follow a few through direct email. I also follow some Youtubers. That's the extent of my social media interaction--oh, yes, I do have a few Pinterest boards I set up a few years ago that I visit on occasion (I'm not enchanted with the current Pinterest set-up, but don't want to take the time to change to a similar service, just not that important to me as Bloglovin' is).

    Anyway, I hope this Google action doesn't affect your great blog otherwise, nor impact any dollars that you may earn thereby.

    As always,
    Glenda

    ReplyDelete
  2. Glenda MooreJanuary 28, 2016 at 7:20 AM

    P.S. I just permanently closed my Pinterest account, because I just discovered that Pinterest put pins on my boards that I do not like and do not want, in addition to the fact that I do not want them putting pins on my boards at all.

    ReplyDelete

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All opinions are welcome here. Even those that differ from mine. But let's keep it clean and civil, please.

-- Heinz-Ulrich

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