Dear Google,
My head is spinning. You are going through so many changes, which means that by default I will be going through so many changes.
I have to tell you that I’m freaking out a bit about the pending disconnection of Google Friend Connect for non-Blogger blogs. I would love more information about how that is going to work.
You recommend having the people that follow my blog (a non-Blogger blog) follow me on google+ and add me to their circles. Wish me luck getting over 700 people to do that especially since a bunch of them aren’t on google+. I guess that’s part of the point, to get more people on google+, right? Okay, I get how that works for the supposed social aspects of GFC, but here’s what I’m freaking out about and I can’t seem to find an answer: most of the people that follow me via GFC do not do it for the social components, they do it as a way to subscribe to my feed in their Blogger dashboard or in their Google Reader.
So riddle me this Google riddlers, come March 2012, will my feed disappear from Blogger dashboards and Google Readers of people who follow me via GFC? Oh, I hope you say it ain’t so. Please say you are not punishing me for not being on Blogger. Just ’cause I’m not on Blogger doesn’t mean I’m not up to my neck in Google products.
At this point, I can’t even have my blog feed automatically publish to google+. I’m busy Google, I have two small kids and adding one more step to my online existence might not seem like much, but my Mami-brain will certainly forget.
So tell me, will my feed disappear from over 700 Blogger dashboards and readers?
I realize that you are busy and can not respond to every single query, but I know I’m not the only one who feels like they’ve been left hanging.
Google, I’m trying to be patient with all the changes and believe that they will all work out for the better. I’ve been a loyal googler for as long as the internet can remember, I’ve stood by you and helped turned you into a verb that gets used in conversations, please don’t leave me hanging.
You’ve been invaluable in helping me find online content, please help me find the answer to this question.
Virtually yours,
Unknown Mami
P.S. I am posting this as an open letter on my blog, my sad, worried, non-Blogger blog.
Visit me at: www.unknownmami.com.
I received this automated response:
Thank you for writing to us at the Google Blog. We appreciate hearing from
you, but can’t guarantee responding to each and every message. However, we
do read every note, and will take your suggestions and comments into
account as we continue to develop the blog. If you have a specific
question you’d like answered, please visit Google.com/support to submit
your message. If we’d like to include your comments in a future post,
we’ll be in touch to ask your permission.
Regards,
The Google Blog team
I hope you hear back from them!
Me too!
Wow, I didn’t even realise your blog wasn’t a blogger one. This friend connect thing is really worrying me. I’m going to have to make sure I make a note of all the blogs I follow and follow them in another way. Hope I don’t lose non-blogger followers along the way too 🙁
Yeah, the possiblitity of losing readers and blogs I follow really bums me out.
I got to almost 13500 followers on GFC so this really bums me out.
Right? It’s driving me bonkers. I feel like I jumped on the bandwagon, promoted the use of GFC, and now I’m getting thrown off. Not too happy about it.
I couldn’t believe it when I read the announcement. I’m still on a blogger blog, so it shouldn’t effect me….BUT….I was planning on moving over to wordpress after the new year, and then it will. What a mess. It seems to me if they are keeping it up for the blogger blogs, it wouldn’t be that big of a deal to keep it up for everyone else too. idots.
I feel really irritated by this, especially if I have to go through and resubscribe to all of the blogs I subscribed to using GFC! I’m so not a fan of the changes Google has been making lately to ANY of their products. Boo Google! BOO!
I’m booing right along with you.
I don’t know how it will work, but I will somehow continue to follow you!
do you mean you just can’t google the answer?
I’ve never used GFC for much else. I think they will keep the feeds feeding. You know they bought Feedburner long ago too.
Even though this whole converstion is a little like a foreign language to me I am rooting for it to work out in your favor. Google needs to learn that if Mami ain’t happy, no one is happy.
I better not add my comments about google.
I am freaking out too!! It feels like a punishment when I too have been so loyal to google since day one. I wish they would at least give us the opportunity to pay a few bucks a month [just a few] for the service. My circles are for social use also…come on google you are so smart you can do better…
I immediately thought of you when I heard the news.
I hope they’re true to their word about reading every concern. They couldn’t possibly not answer such a well-constructed query. Keep us posted.. so to speak.
Well I’m glad I won’t lose you. I’m following you VIA FB, twitter and email! Google is really ticking me off these days!
Having your blog disappear from all those readers would be horrible! You´d think they would have a smooth transition for that or something, no? Let us know if you get an answer!!
I know nothing about GFC, but I, too am planning on moving to my own URL. Technology moving at the speed of light has left me behind and I thought I was pretty well schooled!
Oh yeah. They definitely read every word. Your answer is coming on the next comet.
Ack! how frustasting! I hope a real person gets back to you!
Hope all is well?
Best,
Tina
I’m worried about this myself. I mean, why? It’s just dumb, really. And will make bloggers everywhere very very angry.
It’s just annoying. What’s the point of just keeping it for Blogger bloggers anyway. It’s not like we don’t cross-pollinate.
Oh wow! This sucks. I can’t believe they would just pull the plug like that. There’s got to be a way to keep those followers… 🙁
I really don’t understand the point of them doing this. I myself don’t want to join google+.