This is the beginning of my 5th year of blogging and I never expected to be still at it. You see, I started a blog only to see if I could actually create one and then it
Late last year some changes were made that I was not able to overcome and it's been rather frustrating. For example, on the majority of blogs that I follow I can no longer leave a comment apparently due to the blogger using the embedded comment box .... I had no idea why this excluded me although I now know; recently overnight I lost many of my followers and learned it's because they don't have a google account ... c'mon Google, lighten up; and why do my readers have to prove they aren't robots .... I have captcha turned off and have never requested the robot to monitor my blog. Needless to say, thanks to Google's changes to Blogger there's a chill in the air. I feel like a
Back to my blog which is more of a chronicle of, as someone once referred to it, "the crap I make". ^^ I don't share much, if any, personal stuff and I don't post photos that are personal ... it's the world wide web after all and I don't want to find myself showing up somewhere I'd rather not, lol. Thus, I am aware that this makes for dull blog posts. :(
This is the official word from Google and, agree or disagree, it is what it is:
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
9 comments:
What language is that last bit in?! I seriously don't understand it. I suppose I'll find out in time if I'm affected if all the lovely blogs I follow disappear off my reading list!
No wonder so many stitchers are abandoning their blogs and turning to Facebook and Instagram... You have to wonder "what next?!!" Thanks for posting this, Kate--I hadn't heard about it! And congratulations on five years!
It's been a pleasure reading your posts and seeing all your lovely projects. I hope you'll continue even when the changes come in which I don't fully understand still.
Thanks for the 'heads up' about these changes...not that I really understand it. I think a lot of my followers don't gave a Google account so it could get interesting...is Google trying to take over the world!! Lol 😐
Congratulations on five years of blogging.
I don't really understand what is going on, I just saw that I have lost many followers. But that doesn't affect my reading list as I add all the blogs that I want to read to my Feedly account. And I haven't lost anyone there. So I suppose Feedly doesn't belong to Google. Yet. Lol.
is this why you've recently created a WordPress account?
are you going to try your luck with us Wordpressers? or stick it out on Google?
(asks she, before proving she's not a robot lol)
Happy blog anniversary!!
I too have lost A LOT of followers because of their tidying up :)
Happy blogoversary! This is exactly why I don't use google for my blog. They always think they know what's best for everyone, and they DON'T! For instance, I HATE reading blogs in a reader - it annoys the devil out of me and I never do it. That's why I subscribe with e-mail and then click to the blog. I get an alert that tells me there's a post and I go read it when I can. I'd never bother to scroll through all that on a reader and then the commenting is more difficult, too.
They've made the embedded boxes the default and people have to go in and change it if they don't want it. Lots of people can't comment on those, not just non-Google+ users. I don't want Google+. I used to have several google blogs, including one that is a community, but I've pulled all of them over to WP, which is much less likely to force its thinking on me, in my experience. And it never asks anyone if they are a robot!
Wow as I shake my head in disbelief! Thanks for providing that information. I hope you will continue blogging as I have only recently found it. I don't want Google+ and I know many people are either leaving blogging for FB/Instagram (both I don't do) or finding another means to blog. Have a super weekend!
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