Earlier this week, we saw numerous reports, in Blogger Help Forum: Something Is Broken, about problems with Google Friend Connect, on some Blogger blogs.
Once we realised the variety of the symptoms being experienced by blog owners and guests, it was not too difficult to report the problem, providing sufficient details, to Blogger Support. In less than 2 hours after the problem was reported, Blogger Engineers identified and resolved the problem.
Unfortunately, every problem with Blogger - and with Google Friend Connect - is not always going to have a similarly happy ending.
Blogger, and Google, is constantly evolving. One of the subjects of evolution involves Google Friend Connect, which is being replaced by Google+ Circles, and Google+ Following.
As Google develops Google+, and similar community building products, Blogger Engineers will spend more time developing connections with Google+, and less time supporting Google Friend Connect.
The next problem with Google Friend Connect may take longer than 2 hours to resolve. This may happen because the next problem will be more complex, and require more Engineers to identify and resolve.
Alternately, there may be less Blogger Engineers available to work on the next problem, because some Engineers will be busy on other projects.
Google+ Following does not work the same as Google Friend Connect - nor does it provide the same opportunities for community building. But we, as blog owners, need to figure out how to make Google+ Following work, for our blogs.
This blog has two similar sidebar accessories - "Follow Me" (aka Google Friend Connect), and "+Follow Me" (aka Google+ Following). One day, Google Friend Connect will be discontinued, and the "Follow Me" gadget will be removed. Right now, people can follow me, and this blog, using either or both accessories.
You can add either - or both - accessories to your blog, using the "Add a Gadget" wizard in the dashboard Layout menu entry. The "Google+ Followers" gadget is in the Basics list, while the "Followers" gadget is at the bottom of the "More Gadgets" list. Hopefully, the latter will remain available, until some of the issues with Google+ Followers can be addressed.
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Showing posts with label Following. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Following. Show all posts
Friday, 12 July 2013
Friday, 8 March 2013
Google+ Circles Is Replacing Following / Google Friend Connect
Those of you who have been Following this blog, in the past, may have recently noted a new gadget in the sidebar.
Just below the "Follow Me" gadget, you'll see "+Follow Me". The latter gadget looks the same as the former, but has some subtle differences. Some differences are visible, others not so visible. And some differences are not visible to the eye - but will still affect your access to this blog.
The Google+ Circles gadget, which on this blog is labeled "+Follow Me", appears similar to the Following / Google Friend Connect "Follow Me" gadget - but appearances can be very misleading.
The larger pictures are one obvious difference - but that's not the most significant difference. Some difference need to be discussed now, rather than later, for maximum benefit.
Following / Google Friend Connect lets your acquaintances Follow a single blog. I have several blogs, and a different group of Followers for each blog. The Google+ Circles gadget shows everybody in all of your publicly visible circles, merged together. The merged concept may, or may not, be to your liking.
With Following / Google Friend Connect, your Followers can use email, or any number of newsfeed clients, to read the complete content of your blog - including each complete post, if you setup the blog feed that way. Google+ Circle members can read a snippet of any blog post intentionally Shared, in their stream - but will have to click on the link to the blog, in the snippet, to read the entire blog post. If you have read this far, that's what you have already done.
Following / Google Friend Connect works best for public blogs - and supports a reader audience of unlimited size. A Google+ Circle, likewise, supports a reader audience of unlimited size.
With a properly setup Google+ Circle, and a Blogger blog with a list of designated readers - and your readers properly accepting the emailed membership invitation, up to 99 of your designated readers can Follow your blog. As before, the limit for private blog distribution, as for any team blog, is still 99 members.
Anybody Following a blog, using the stream of any author of the blog, will see a snippet of each post Shared in their stream. To read the complete post, they will have to click on the link in the snippet. With a private blog, the reader will have to be a blog member, to read the complete post.
Many publicly visible Blogger blogs have Following communities which vastly exceed my 4700 member population (my "Follow Me" gadget, as of April 2013) - and the possibility of losing those communities will not be willingly accepted by everybody. The integration of Following with the newsfeed subscription - and with the dashboard Reading List - is not automatic with Google+ Circles.
A blog with multiple authors (aka "team blog") will have either a Google+ Circles gadget for only one author - or multiple Circles gadgets, to fairly let people subscribe to the various authors Google+ streams. Neither solution will be exactly equal to the Following / GFC blog feed subscription - especially if the various team members are similar to me, and my range of interests.
Right now, it appears that a blog can have just one Circles gadget. How team membership blogs will use Google+ is another question to ask.
Similar to the team blog, we may wish to consider the multiple interests of each blog owner. I am one person, with a number of interests. People who have intentionally subscribed to the newsfeed from this blog, and are specifically interested in my blog about Blogger blogs, may not be extremely interested in my blog about cooking - nor in my blog about jokes, pranks, and miscellaneous ramblings. Unfortunately, if you Follow my Google+ stream, you'll get a bit of each subject.
Again, the Google+ Circles gadget appears to contain the total Followers for one person, for all interests of that one person. I have not yet found a tool that will allow me to analyse the interests of each of my Followers, and to accurately determine the specific areas of overlapping, between my own personal interests and theirs. It will be impossible for many blog owners to keep an accurate Circle complement, and segregate each circle according to interest, so they may Share only relevant material with the specific members of each different Circle.
As the Google+ Circles gadget evolves, some significant improvements - and some compromises - will be required. Like the Internet, Blogger, and Google, are constantly evolving. This may require compromises by many Blogger blog owners.
We now have a rollup discussion, where each blog owner is asked to provide their thoughts about the above described issues - and possibly, others that concern you. Anybody who experienced the Blogger GUI upgrade of several years ago may, from experience, realise how much better off we may all be, with these issues discussed now - rather than later.
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Just below the "Follow Me" gadget, you'll see "+Follow Me". The latter gadget looks the same as the former, but has some subtle differences. Some differences are visible, others not so visible. And some differences are not visible to the eye - but will still affect your access to this blog.
The Google+ Circles gadget, which on this blog is labeled "+Follow Me", appears similar to the Following / Google Friend Connect "Follow Me" gadget - but appearances can be very misleading.
The larger pictures are one obvious difference - but that's not the most significant difference. Some difference need to be discussed now, rather than later, for maximum benefit.
Following / Google Friend Connect lets your acquaintances Follow a single blog. I have several blogs, and a different group of Followers for each blog. The Google+ Circles gadget shows everybody in all of your publicly visible circles, merged together. The merged concept may, or may not, be to your liking.
With Following / Google Friend Connect, your Followers can use email, or any number of newsfeed clients, to read the complete content of your blog - including each complete post, if you setup the blog feed that way. Google+ Circle members can read a snippet of any blog post intentionally Shared, in their stream - but will have to click on the link to the blog, in the snippet, to read the entire blog post. If you have read this far, that's what you have already done.
Following / Google Friend Connect works best for public blogs - and supports a reader audience of unlimited size. A Google+ Circle, likewise, supports a reader audience of unlimited size.
With a properly setup Google+ Circle, and a Blogger blog with a list of designated readers - and your readers properly accepting the emailed membership invitation, up to 99 of your designated readers can Follow your blog. As before, the limit for private blog distribution, as for any team blog, is still 99 members.
Anybody Following a blog, using the stream of any author of the blog, will see a snippet of each post Shared in their stream. To read the complete post, they will have to click on the link in the snippet. With a private blog, the reader will have to be a blog member, to read the complete post.
Many publicly visible Blogger blogs have Following communities which vastly exceed my 4700 member population (my "Follow Me" gadget, as of April 2013) - and the possibility of losing those communities will not be willingly accepted by everybody. The integration of Following with the newsfeed subscription - and with the dashboard Reading List - is not automatic with Google+ Circles.
A blog with multiple authors (aka "team blog") will have either a Google+ Circles gadget for only one author - or multiple Circles gadgets, to fairly let people subscribe to the various authors Google+ streams. Neither solution will be exactly equal to the Following / GFC blog feed subscription - especially if the various team members are similar to me, and my range of interests.
Right now, it appears that a blog can have just one Circles gadget. How team membership blogs will use Google+ is another question to ask.
Similar to the team blog, we may wish to consider the multiple interests of each blog owner. I am one person, with a number of interests. People who have intentionally subscribed to the newsfeed from this blog, and are specifically interested in my blog about Blogger blogs, may not be extremely interested in my blog about cooking - nor in my blog about jokes, pranks, and miscellaneous ramblings. Unfortunately, if you Follow my Google+ stream, you'll get a bit of each subject.
Again, the Google+ Circles gadget appears to contain the total Followers for one person, for all interests of that one person. I have not yet found a tool that will allow me to analyse the interests of each of my Followers, and to accurately determine the specific areas of overlapping, between my own personal interests and theirs. It will be impossible for many blog owners to keep an accurate Circle complement, and segregate each circle according to interest, so they may Share only relevant material with the specific members of each different Circle.
As the Google+ Circles gadget evolves, some significant improvements - and some compromises - will be required. Like the Internet, Blogger, and Google, are constantly evolving. This may require compromises by many Blogger blog owners.
We now have a rollup discussion, where each blog owner is asked to provide their thoughts about the above described issues - and possibly, others that concern you. Anybody who experienced the Blogger GUI upgrade of several years ago may, from experience, realise how much better off we may all be, with these issues discussed now - rather than later.
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Monday, 7 January 2013
Blog Readers Report Inability To Remove Blogs From Their Reading Lists
We're seeing an occasional report, in Blogger Help Forum: Something Is Broken, about inability to manage the Reading List, using the dashboard "Manage Blogs I'm Following" wizard.
Clicking on the dashboard "gear" icon to the right of "Reading List", one should expect to see a list of Followed blogs, in the familiar menu. In some cases, what is seen will be bad news.
Upon trying again, the same error is frequently seen, repeatedly.
Some frustrated blog owners report that this problem has affected them, for some time.
This is not a heavily reported problem - but the blog Followers who cannot remove blogs, especially when faced with spam in the unwanted blogs - will not see this as a minor problem.
We have observed that, in cases where Blogger: Manage Blogs I'm Following (from the "gear" icon) does not perform, you may try Google Friend Connect: Sites I've joined. The latter may work, when the former does not.
Using the latter wizard, you may have to sign into Google again, after clicking on the "Settings" link for the blog / website in question. Having signed in, you may have to click on "Settings" a second time, to get the "Settings" pop up window.
If the "Settings" popup window does not appear - or does not display or operate properly, you may need to check your cookie and script filters.
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Clicking on the dashboard "gear" icon to the right of "Reading List", one should expect to see a list of Followed blogs, in the familiar menu. In some cases, what is seen will be bad news.
We are unable to load your FriendConnect data at this time. We apologize for the inconvenience. Please try again shortly.
Upon trying again, the same error is frequently seen, repeatedly.
Some frustrated blog owners report that this problem has affected them, for some time.
This has been an issue for months. I need to be able to remove blogs I no longer wish to Follow - especially those which do not have a Friend Connect gadget.
This is not a heavily reported problem - but the blog Followers who cannot remove blogs, especially when faced with spam in the unwanted blogs - will not see this as a minor problem.
We have observed that, in cases where Blogger: Manage Blogs I'm Following (from the "gear" icon) does not perform, you may try Google Friend Connect: Sites I've joined. The latter may work, when the former does not.
Using the latter wizard, you may have to sign into Google again, after clicking on the "Settings" link for the blog / website in question. Having signed in, you may have to click on "Settings" a second time, to get the "Settings" pop up window.
If the "Settings" popup window does not appear - or does not display or operate properly, you may need to check your cookie and script filters.
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Saturday, 15 December 2012
The Content Of Your Reading List Is Your Responsibility
Occasionally, we see an odd problem report about Reading List content, in Blogger Help Forum: Something Is Broken.
Most people will not, knowingly, Follow a spam blog. This is one reason why Following is so popular - each blog owner, and blog reader can easily bypass, and actively block - spam. Spammers have, however, found devious ways to convince people to Follow them.
Nobody will, intentionally, Follow a spam blog. If we unintentionally Follow a blog which is owned by somebody gullible to the spammers suggestions, it's not difficult to identify, and stop Following, any blogs owned by gullible people.
You can, using the right reporting procedure, identify the blogs which offend you. It's possible that Blogger / Google will, given the right complaints, remove such blogs.
When you see content which offends you, in your Reading List, the proper resolution will be simple.
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How did this blog get into my Reading List? I did not Follow this blog!
Most people will not, knowingly, Follow a spam blog. This is one reason why Following is so popular - each blog owner, and blog reader can easily bypass, and actively block - spam. Spammers have, however, found devious ways to convince people to Follow them.
Nobody will, intentionally, Follow a spam blog. If we unintentionally Follow a blog which is owned by somebody gullible to the spammers suggestions, it's not difficult to identify, and stop Following, any blogs owned by gullible people.
You can, using the right reporting procedure, identify the blogs which offend you. It's possible that Blogger / Google will, given the right complaints, remove such blogs.
- Any action taken upon your report of problem blogs is subject to delay - and due process of law - before any results will be seen.
- The content which offends you may not be provided in a Blogger blog. Google has no power over non Google hosted websites.
- Any blogs removed as a result of your complaints will be replaced, in the spam blog cloud, which you are seeing, thanks to the blog which you are Following.
When you see content which offends you, in your Reading List, the proper resolution will be simple.
- Find, and remove, the blogs which you are Following - and which provide the problem content presence in your Reading List.
- Report the blogs which you are Following - not the blogs / websites which provide the unwanted content.
- Report the blogs or websites which provide the unwanted content.
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Tuesday, 26 June 2012
Confusion Over Community Building Accessories - Blog Feeds, EMail, And Following
A few blog owners become confused over the various community building options offered for our blogs. We see the queries in Blogger Help Forum: Something Is Broken.
These questions all come from people who don't understand the differences between blog feed subscribers, email subscribers, and Followers.
There are various community building accessories available for our Blogger blogs.
The native Blogger blog feed subscriptions, and email subscriptions, are pretty basic.
You can enhance the possibilities for both blog feed subscriptions, and email subscriptions, by using a FeedBurner enhanced feed.
You can make it easy for your readers to subscribe to your blog, using standard Blogger / Google gadgets. Look in the sidebar for this blog, for the orange "XML" icon. Beneath that, you will see "Subscribe to The Real Blogger Status by Email", which provides a link to the FeedBurner Email Subscription form. Next, you see the "Subscribe To" gadget, which is the Blogger supplied "Subscription Links" gadget, installed using the Layout "Add a Gadget" wizard.
Even with FeedBurner involved, all accessories won't be the same.
After you add a FeedBurner Email Subscription to your blog, don't get confused over the terminology - someone who Follows your blog using a FeedBurner Email Subscription won't be counted, or treated, as one who Follows using Following / Google Friend Connect.
If you redirect the blog feed to FeedBurner, you can see statistics about everybody who reads your blog in their newsfeed reader. The FeedBurner statistics will be different from the Following / Google Friend Connect count, and from the FeedBurner Email subscriber count and list.
So enjoy the convenience to you, and to your potential Followers - but understand what they, and you, get - and don't get. You'll have up to three different counts, to consider.
Finally, people can follow you using your stream, in Google+. If you Share your posts when you publish, your posts will go into your Google+ stream, and be visible to anybody Following you there. Sometime in the future, Google+ Circles may replace Following / Friend Connect.
If you include a Google+ Followers gadget on your blog, your Followers may get their pictures on your blog, similar to Following / Google Friend Connect. And you can use Google+, and restricted Google+ Circles, with a private blog - an option not available using the blog feed.
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How do I get a list of my Followers email addresses?and
Why don't my email subscribers show up in my Followers gadget?and
How do I know how many people subscribe to my feed?
These questions all come from people who don't understand the differences between blog feed subscribers, email subscribers, and Followers.
There are various community building accessories available for our Blogger blogs.
- Blog feed subscriptions.
- Email subscriptions.
- Following (aka "Google Friend Connect").
- Google+.
The native Blogger blog feed subscriptions, and email subscriptions, are pretty basic.
- People subscribe to the blog feed using any of dozens of various industry standard newsfeed subscription products. You can't count, or enumerate, these subscribers.
- You provide up to 10 email subscriptions, using BlogSend. You'll have a list of these (up to) 10 email recipients. Only BlogSend based email is available, to members of private blogs.
You can enhance the possibilities for both blog feed subscriptions, and email subscriptions, by using a FeedBurner enhanced feed.
You can make it easy for your readers to subscribe to your blog, using standard Blogger / Google gadgets. Look in the sidebar for this blog, for the orange "XML" icon. Beneath that, you will see "Subscribe to The Real Blogger Status by Email", which provides a link to the FeedBurner Email Subscription form. Next, you see the "Subscribe To" gadget, which is the Blogger supplied "Subscription Links" gadget, installed using the Layout "Add a Gadget" wizard.
Even with FeedBurner involved, all accessories won't be the same.
After you add a FeedBurner Email Subscription to your blog, don't get confused over the terminology - someone who Follows your blog using a FeedBurner Email Subscription won't be counted, or treated, as one who Follows using Following / Google Friend Connect.
- People who Follow using FeedBurner Email will not get their picture in the Friend Connect gadget.
- FeedBurner will give you a count of people who Follow, using Email.
- Following / Google Friend Connect will give you a count of people who Follow / Join your blog.
- Some people may do both - but don't expect this to be normal.
If you redirect the blog feed to FeedBurner, you can see statistics about everybody who reads your blog in their newsfeed reader. The FeedBurner statistics will be different from the Following / Google Friend Connect count, and from the FeedBurner Email subscriber count and list.
- People who subscribe to the FeedBurner feed using "Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)" will read the blog feed in their newsfeed readers - not in their email.
- People who read the redirected blog feed using their newsfeed readers will be counted in the FeedBurner statistics, but they will not provide their email address - so they won't be listed in the FeedBurner "Subscriber Management" list.
- Both people who Follow / Join the blog, using Following / Google Friend Connect, and people who use the "Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)" link will be redirected to the FeedBurner feed, and contribute to the FeedBurner statistics.
So enjoy the convenience to you, and to your potential Followers - but understand what they, and you, get - and don't get. You'll have up to three different counts, to consider.
- FeedBurner Email Subscribers. You can get an email address list, of email subscribers.
- FeedBurner Newsfeed Subscribers. You can get FeedBurner Statistics, about newsfeed subscribers.
- Following / Friend Connect Members. You can see pictures and profiles of Members, who do not Follow anonymously.
Finally, people can follow you using your stream, in Google+. If you Share your posts when you publish, your posts will go into your Google+ stream, and be visible to anybody Following you there. Sometime in the future, Google+ Circles may replace Following / Friend Connect.
If you include a Google+ Followers gadget on your blog, your Followers may get their pictures on your blog, similar to Following / Google Friend Connect. And you can use Google+, and restricted Google+ Circles, with a private blog - an option not available using the blog feed.
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Monday, 21 May 2012
Follow Blogs, Without A Followers Gadget
Recently, Blogger cleaned up the Navbar somewhat - and removed the "Follow" link. This left some blog would be Followers inconvenienced.
Blogger has earlier provided three ways for us to Follow any given blog.
If you're looking at a blog that lacks a Followers gadget, and now with no "Follow" navbar link, just login to Blogger and go to your dashboard, and the Reading List display at the bottom of the Blog List.
When you Add a blog, you'll have two options to Follow - Publicly and Anonymously. In either case, this only works for Public blogs - Private blogs don't publish a feed, and can't be Followed.
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How do I Follow blogs, that don't have a Followers gadget?There has always been a third way to Follow a blog, provided by Blogger - though not everybody may be aware of it.
Blogger has earlier provided three ways for us to Follow any given blog.
- The Followers / Google Friend Connect gadget, in the blog body.
- The "Follow" link in the Navbar.
- The "Manage" wizard, in the Reading List.
If you're looking at a blog that lacks a Followers gadget, and now with no "Follow" navbar link, just login to Blogger and go to your dashboard, and the Reading List display at the bottom of the Blog List.
- For The Classic GUI, the "Add" button beneath the Reading List.
- For The New GUI, the Gear icon gives use the Manage wizard, with a similar "Add" button.
When you Add a blog, you'll have two options to Follow - Publicly and Anonymously. In either case, this only works for Public blogs - Private blogs don't publish a feed, and can't be Followed.
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