What is the first thing you do when you look at a blog for the first time? Well, the real answer for me is the blog design, but after that? It’s the follower box. This isn’t something that I’m proud of. I don’t think that more followers means that I’m going to like the blog more, or that less followers means that there is something wrong with the blog. But with so many blogs out there, the followers box is a quick way to get a little bit of information about the blog. Sometimes it’s indicative of how popular it is, sometimes it correlates to how long the blog has been around.
The followers box, formally called Google Friend Connect, is being discontinued for blogs not hosted by Blogger on March 1 (see this press release from Google.) It is my understanding that blogs hosted on Blogger will be unaffected, for now. However, many blogs not on Blogger have spent a lot of time building up their fan base and are now looking for ways to display that number with something now that GFC will no longer be available. Here are a few alternatives.
- Facebook. You might have noticed that I took down GFC and added a Facebook like box to the sidebar instead. This was the best option for me for a few reasons. First of all, I had more Facebook fans than I had on GFC. Let’s face it, everyone has Facebook. So even people you know in real life who don’t follow the blog scene can like your page. Secondly, having people like your page to show support means that you can more easily build your community on Facebook. For me, it’s win-win.
- Google Plus. Google says that part of their reason for getting rid of GFC was in hopes that people would turn to Google Plus as it’s replacement. You can make pages for your business or blog the same way that you can on Facebook. It will be interesting to see if this works out for them. So far, I don’t see a ton of people using Google Plus, but Facebook doesn’t always function the best, and I fully believe that if Google tries they can out do Facebook in terms of functionality. It’s just a matter of whether they can get people to use it or now.
- Networked blogs. I honestly have no experience with this, but I’ve seen it around the blog world, and it appears to have become fairly popular.
- Bloglovin. Again, no experience. But feel free to check it out! I’m sure you’ve seen it around, too. Although I’m not sure that it has boxes with faces and numbers like the others I’ve described.
- None of the above. A lot of bigger blogs, like blogs that are a really big deal, don’t have something that lists their numbers at all. If I didn’t want to grow my page on Facebook, I think this is the way I would go. If people really want to find out how popular your blog is, all they need to do is subscribe and Google Reader will give them an idea. Or they can look at Twitter, your comments… it’s not that hard to tell.
There are obviously a TON more options out there, these are just the few most obvious ones that I’ve seen around. What do you think about GFC going away? Are you going to replace it with something else on your blog? I’d love to hear!
Edited to add: Don’t forget to always have your RSS feed accessible! Mine is through Feedburner, and you can subscribe by clicking on the tan button under Connect at the top of the sidebar. Subscribing via email is always another good way to go! (Thanks Annelise for the reminder, and thanks to Katie for giving me the idea for this post!)
Don’t feel bad about looking at people’s numbers– I do it too!!
I’m all about RSS followers and Facebook. That’s where the potential is at!
Ugh, I totally meant to mention that… adding it now! Thanks Aunie!
I have to admit, I am super confused about the RSS feeder.
RSS is just an easier way to access a blog’s post. If you have Blogger, it kinda does this for you automatically when you follow a blog by putting those blogs posts on your home page. Since not everyone uses that feature, some people use different readers. I use Google Reader (which is actually hooked up to Blogger) and it combines all the posts of the blogs that I follow using GFC, as well as the ones that I subscribe to through their RSS feeds (usually through Feedburner.) That way I can quickly make sure that I’ve read all posts, or save them for later, or add labels… all kinds of stuff.
Hope that helps clear things up a little! if anyone else has anything to add about RSS feel free!
Thanks for the shout-out Kate! Great info, thanks for doing the research.
Have you ever heard of Common Craft? They make great explanation videos. Check this one out on RSS feeds: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0klgLsSxGsU&feature=youtu.be
I hadn’t! That looks like an awesome resource, I’ll have to check it out!
I ended up just using Facebook. Unfortunately when I switched from Blogger to WordPress a lot of those followers I had didn’t follow along with the Facebook page. I don’t typically judge blogs based on the follower number though. As long as I like the blog, that’s really all that matters to me.
Shasta, I wasn’t saying that I judge blogs based on their follower count, just that I (like a lot of others, I’m sure) look at the follower count, and that’s why a lot of people are up in arms about not being able to use it on their non-blogger blogs anymore. I follow and enjoy blogs with readerships of all sizes.
Kate, I wasn’t accusing you! I understand that some people do like seeing how many others like blogs. :) Also, I was doing some searching and I guess a lot of bloggers are now going to be going with Linky Followers (http://www.linkyfollowers.com). I just signed my blog up for it and it was incredibly easy to add as a widget. You may want to check it out!
Thanks Shasta! Now that you mention it, I have seen that one around too, I knew I was missing a few options!
I used to have GFC on my blog, but I took it down sometime last year. While I like the idea of creating a bit of a community around the blog, I’m also a minimalist by nature, and not gonna lie… I just hated the look of it on my site!
Not quite the same thing, but I just rely on Twitter. I like it, use it all the time, and I like chatting with everyone. :)
(I also think I’m possibly one of the only people in the world who abhors Facebook. Eek…)
xo.
I’m with you! I really struggle against the desire to have a minimal look on my blogs and the functionality of some of the many, many, things you can stick on your blog. Unfortunately, the functionality usually wins out, but I’m trying to keep in mind that less is more when it comes to my blogs. And I totally understand about FB, but I also like certain aspects of it.
I totally agree about giving up on the #’s when it doesn’t matter. Relying on analytics alone should be all you need. For me, I love blog lovin’. I’ve always had one, but never used it until this past week when I started to add the blogs I want to follow and I’m enjoying the entire layout and scheme. It’s clean and simple, and you can follow any blog no matter what platform they use. I’m also about to take the leap and leave blogger for squarespace, so when I do that I’ll be leaving GFC behind. And I think it’s totally ok. Sometimes I hate the way that GFC box makes me feel. haha. :)