Goodbye Google Friend Connect

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Well, The ole’ GFC is going bye-bye for all non-”Blogger” blogs. I’ve already taken it off this blog in case you haven’t noticed. Here’s a run-down on what’s going on and what it means for you:

1. –>Most importantly: GFC is ONLY going away for non-Blogger sites…If you use Google’s “Blogger” you won’t be affected by this change. Don’t panic!

2. –>Everyone who is currently following a “non-Blogger” site (like a WordPress blog) WILL be affected by the change. I’m not positive, but I’m assuming that the non-Blogger blog feed will no longer show up in your Blogger dashboard after March 1st. It will simply disappear.

3.–> The changes are taking place on March 1st. Here is the official quote from Google about the change, “Friend Connect allows webmasters to add social features to their sites by embedding a few snippets of code. We’re retiring the service for all non-Blogger sites on March 1, 2012. We encourage affected sites to create a Google+ page and place a Google+ badge on their site so they can bring their community of followers to Google+ and use new features like Circles and Hangouts to keep in touch.”

 {You can find the rest of the article HERE}

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((Why the change?))

–> Google is basically wanting to streamline everyone into using “Google +”. But I’m pretty sure that even with Google + you still won’t be able to read a blog feed in your dashboard. Correct me if I’m wrong here…

((So what do we do now?))

–>There is a new and universal way to follow ALL blogs/websites and it’s called “Linky Followers“. I would suggest opening a free Linky Followers account and following all your favorite non-blogger sites through this. Yes, it’s annoying because it means you will have to look at some blogs through your Blogger dashboard and some through your Linky Followers dashboard…but it’s better than nothing! And if your favorite non-blogger sites aren’t already using Linky Followers- please tell them about it!

–>Follow by e-mail. Yes, I know, you don’t want your inbox cluttered with more mail. But it’s an option!

–>Follow on Facebook, Twitter, BlogLovin’ or RSS.

So see, there’s no need to freak out. There are still plenty of ways to keep up with your favorite blogs. If you really love them, you’ll find a way! And right now, the most similar thing to GFC is “Linky Followers”. I bet pretty soon everyone will use that instead of GFC because it’s universal.

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((So what should us non-Bloggers do so we won’t be forgotten?))

–>Tell all your followers about the changes and their options before March 1st.

–>Continue to advertise yourself on “Blogger” blogs (probably more now than ever)

–> Stay active in the community doing guest posts, giveaways, social networking etc.

You may see that you’re gonna have to put forth a lot more effort to be known and found. 

Let’s face it, GFC is convenient. I wouldn’t remember to look at half the blogs I do if they didn’t randomly pop up and look interesting in my dashboard. I would think stats will drop, level off and then hopefully start to rise again once people catch on to “Linky Followers”. But I think you’re gonna have to spend some cash on advertising and really focus on social networking for a while. That’s my best advice! But don’t worry, GFC has been a great social networking tool but thankfully it’s not the only one out there…

We’ll all be in the same boat together! So let’s help each other stay afloat! =)