GFC and the Better Alternatives

(OK, perhaps not better, but there’s bound to be something here that’s better suited to your blogging reading setup!)

In November 2011, Google announced that they would be no longer be providing the GFC (Google Friend Connect) service for non-Blogger blogs. This came into effect on March 1st, and bloggers who had the service previously have seen huge drops in traffic.

The official replacement is to use Google+ pages – but lets face it, who actually uses Google+? I was one of the first to sign up, and yet I’ve barely been on there since signing up. (Perhaps I’ll use it more when Picnik closes and its functions are merged into Google+, but the way that Google is pushing Google+ is just silly)

For actually reading the blogs that you follow, I use Google Reader – it brings in the blogs that you follow in Blogger, but also is an RSS feed reader so you can follow any blog you like. Their mobile version is quite nice – I prefer to read my blog subscriptions on my iPad rather than my desktop sometimes because of the way its displayed. Usually when you click on an icon that looks like this:, that will link you to the sites RSS feed – if you were looking for mine, this link will bring up a list of ways to subscribe in various readers. (I use Feedburner, which means that if I ever did change my website address, then my feed URL wouldn’t need to change, which means you wouldn’t lose any readers)

Bloglovin’ is a Swedish company who wanted to create something that notified the users to a new post with a website that “just worked”. Its been around for a while, but I think that Google’s decision to scrap GFC will benefit them hugely. For people who liked the simplicity of GFC, this is probably the best alternative. (To follow this blog in Bloglovin’, click here)

HelloCotton is a newcomer to the scene which I’ve not really looked into much, but I believe that you can follow blogs that way.

Facebook. Yeah, I know. Its full of people you don’t really like but can’t remove as a friend because of the ensuing dramz, but it does still have its uses, and most people have their own Facebook page for their blog. (If you like me, it would be nice if you liked me! Or, er, my page. I promise not to spam and to provide kitten pictures often.)

Oh, and because I’m a little late with this, Charlotte and Liloo are putting together a list of bloggers affected by this change to make people more aware and to encourage discussion about how else a blog can be followed.

http://twitter.com/lipglossiping/goodbye-gfc/members
#goodbyegfc

Have I missed any other blog gatherers out?