GFC IS NOT DISAPPEARING!!! (yet?) READ THIS!

There has been a lot of panic on Twitter (nothing new…) about Google Friend Finder disappearing. Let me start by saying GFC is NOT disappearing (yet)!!!!!!!!!!
Unlike other bloggers who scream and shout “what they heard”, I actually went to investigate it. That’s how it works, people. If you want to know something you either ask or you investigate. You don’t draw your own conclusions.
On Google’s blog there’s a list of things that are going to change. It says that the Google READER is retiring. Reader, not Friend Connect. You can read the paragraph here:

We launched Google Reader in 2005 in an effort to make it easy for people to discover and keep tabs on their favorite websites. While the product has a loyal following, over the years usage has declined. So, on July 1, 2013, we will retire Google Reader. Users and developers interested in RSS alternatives can export their data, including their subscriptions, with Google Takeout over the course of the next four months.
Read the full post here

CONTINUE READING! There's a whole post + explanation!



But then there are people who still can’t read and say: “But it says GFC is going!!!” No, it doesn’t.
To confirm that, I went to the Google/Blogger forum and asked the question. I made screenshots so you can see on what information I base my conclusion. Because it’s in Dutch, I will translate it for you. I asked in English too, but the Dutch question got answered quicker. Here’s the forum page with my questions (it’s Dutch, though, but you can translate if you have your doubts) https://productforums.google.com/forum/#!category-topic/blogger-nl/algemeen/wZcO7YycjX8



Translation

Me
Hi,
There’s a rumor in the blogger world that the Google Friend Connect widget will disappear soon (July 1st). Is this true?
If so, is it going to be replaced by an alternative? And will I lose all my followers?
Help me out! I don’t know what to believe anymore..

Kobus
The Google Friend Connect will still exist for now. In the following blogpost you can read what’s going to disappear.

Me
Thank you for the quick reaction!!!
I’ve just seen that, indeed. But isn’t google reader connected to google friend connect?

--

You see? It stays, for now. For now. Which means it’s not staying forever, but it stays for now, so no worries. Just like everyone else, I had more questions which Kobus answered kindly. To clarify things: Kobus is the guy that answers the questions on the Dutch Blogger forum. So no random person who decided to answer me. He knows what he’s talking about. Let’s continue the conversation.


Translation

Me
Thank you for the quick reaction!!!
I’ve just seen that, indeed. But isn’t google reader connected to google friend connect?

Kobus
These have nothing to do with each other.
Google Reader is a possibility to read the RSS-Feeds, but it works/worked fine without GFC

Me
Again, thank you for the answer!

One more question and I’ll stop haha :)
If Blogger won’t use Google Reader anymore, how can you still follow the blogs you follow? Because I read about the new blog posts via the list Google Reader provides.




Me
Again, thank you for the answer!


One more question and I’ll stop haha :)
If Blogger won’t use Google Reader anymore, how can you still follow the blogs you follow? Because I read about the new blog posts via the list Google Reader provides.

Kobus
There are more Feed reader that you can use to follow/read RSS feeds. Google Reader is just one of many

--

And because of all the hassle I totally forgot this: Google Reader is NOT the same as your dashboard! Just a little logical thinking (that got delayed though lol)

--

As you can see, the information is reliable and I didn’t make anything up to make anyone feel better.
So please people, if you hear something that might affect you, investigate!!!!!! Don’t follow the crowd, be the leader!


Your options
If you’re still worried about GFC disappearing, I don’t blame you. The guy said “for now”, which means that it’s not staying forever. However, it’s not disappearing on 1 July. So if you’re worried, stimulate your new and existing followers to follow you through other media, like Bloglovin, Twitter, Facebook and what else.

Personally I like to use Bloglovin and I’ll just briefly write down the pros
  • Easy to use
  • Easy to follow and be followed
  • Daily mail with new posts (you can change this if you want to)
  • Option to organize blogs (different folders; I have my Beauty Folder, Fashion Folder, Lifestyle Folder, Photography, etc.)
  • Option to like posts, so you’ll never lose your favourite posts
  • You can see how many (un)followers you got in a period of time (in a graph)
  • Easy to use on mobile phone
  • It also has an app!! And it works fine!
  • Tells you which posts you haven’t read yet
  • Gives you the option to search for blogs that you might like (but doesn’t spam you like Twitter does with “People you might know, Follow now!!!” You can search on Bloglovin yourself)
I’m not promoting Bloglovin, don’t get me wrong. I just wrote down why I like it so much. I think I use it more than GFC. If you want to follow me there, please do! Bloglovin.com/PetiteSal

* Edit thanks for my lovely reader & commenter Lizzums: If you don't want to lose the blogs you follow (via Google Reader), you can import them into your Bloglovin feed! Rrrrright here: Bloglovin.com/import *


Conclusion
I’m not sure when the GFC widget is disappearing, but I do know it’s not on July 1st like Google Reader. So you have at least 4 months of GFC pleasure! With this post I wanted to inform you all what the status is at the moment. If you still have questions, please ask them on the forum, or Tweet them to me and I’ll ask them for you. You can also drop them in a comment. On March 18th I will gather all the questions in the blogpost and ask them in the forum. That way I don’t have to ask a question every other second and I won’t drive the forum guy insane :)

Conclusion of this very informative post: DON’T FOLLOW THE CROWD WHEN THERE’S PANIC!! Oh and GFC is not disappearing. Yet.
I’m sorry for the annoyed tone in this post. It’s just that people drive me insane with so called facts about this, while no one took the effort to actually figure things out.

Here is a link to the Dutch forum (which I used) https://productforums.google.com/forum/#!forum/blogger-nl


Don't get me wrong though, I'm as insecure as all of you. Please follow me on other social media to stay in touch with me and let me know you did, so I can immediately follow back! (You can click on the icons)

   

Thank you for reading and I hope I clarified things a little. 
Again, if you have any questions, post them below or tweet them to me and I’ll ask all of them in the forum next week! Or you can ask the questions yourself, of course :)

36 comments :

  1. so glad you wrote this,ppl read a rumour and panic!xx

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thank you for doing what i was too lazy to do haha! Personally i've been pretty chilled out about it, partly because i'm not a 'big' blogger, and partly because i'm pretty sure they wouldn't just drop the whole blogging community like that. It will probably turn out that they've found a new way to monetise their blogger hosting and google reader would prevent it. Time will tell x x x

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    Replies
    1. I think bloggers are too stressed out about it. If it goes then they will have something else to replace it :) in the meantime we also got bloglovin and hellocotton :)
      Limes&Smiles

      Delete
    2. I agree. I don't think Google will let all these millions of bloggers end up with nothing. After all, they tell you to blog so you can follow blogs you like and keep in touch. It won't make sense if they'd get rid of GFC without any replacement. Besides, blogging is about having fun, not about numbers. And your real readers will find a way to follow you :) Bloglovin is always an option, so no worries and no panic! X

      Delete
  3. Oh wat fijn dit! Dankjewel :-)

    xo The Daily Fashion Drug

    ReplyDelete
  4. Very useful post, thank you! All it takes is one person to tweet the wrong information, and everyones goes into panic mode. I shall retweet the link for this- everyone needs to read this! (^_^) x

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  5. Thank you for this! The amount of misinformed idiots posting about this in panic today has annoyed me! Google Reader =/= Google Friend Connect, duh! x

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You're welcome! Jep.. It got me to the level of annoyance that I even wrote about it haha! X

      Delete
  6. I love Bloglovin too I only got GFC finally last week cause every other blogger has it but I find Bloglovin' is a great way to watch all my fav blogs! Great post!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I prefer Bloglovin too! It gives you way more control. Glad you appreciate the post :) X

      Delete
  7. Ahh thanks for this blogpost.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Please remove this post for its incorrectness.

    Anyone could be this Kobus person.

    Here's what happens when you click on 'Join This Site' on GFC, it automatically adds the blog's address to Google Reader into a folder 'blogs im following'. This is folder is read out by Blogger Dashboard to display these blogs.

    If Google Reader disappears, then there will be no blogs to be listed in the Blogger Dashboard as that is only set to import the blogs from Google Reader and that can't be changed to a different rss feed reader.

    This will make GFC void, useless, because while you could still click on 'Join This Site' you will not get anymore updates through Google Reader / Blogger Dashboard.

    Ive been doing this for over 15 years, I know my shit. If Google Reader dies there's nothing to import to Blogger Dashboard and that makes GFC void.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. First of all: watch your tone lady. I don't care if you "know your shit" or not, I only wrote down what I know and how I got the information. I'm not making any of this up. You could've let us know that my information is not complete by telling me the friendly way. Second, I don't rely on people "who can be anyone". If you read the post, you can see that he's the "Blogger forum guy" who answers for (the Dutch) Blogger.
      Third, following someone does add them to your Google Reader list, but also to your dashboard. Before Google Reader, if you followed someone, it ended on your dashboard too (yes, I've been doing this a long time as well). Like Kobus said, they work perfectly fine without each other. And if you're still worried, you can use another RSS feeds reader.
      I appreciate you trying to help, I really do, but I really don't like your tone. If you want to contribute, PLEASE do, really. I beg you to help. I'm not always right, since I'm just the messenger. BUT if you want to add something, watch your tone. We're here to help each other, not to put others down. And I don't care for how long you do this or if "you know your shit".
      I'm not attacking you or whatsoever, don't get me wrong. I'm just asking you to watch your tone next time you want to contribute on any other blog. It's disrespectful.

      Delete
  9. Google Reader is going. Blogger adds blogs followed by GFC to this.
    But you can import your google reader feed in to BlogLovin here http://www.bloglovin.com/import

    :)

    Lizzums x
    http://benebelle.com

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Exactly! I understand that it gives confusion, but they're not the same.

      Thank you, Liz! I'll add that to the post :) X

      Delete
  10. I have friends that work at google and they told me that GFC will be retired shortly after GFC. It could just be a rumor but they seem to think it's a sure thing.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I meant after "GFC will be retired shortly after Google reader." Ooops.

      Delete
    2. I do believe GFC will disappear too. But I also think Google will replace it with something else. They know how much GFC means to bloggers, I'm sure about that! X

      Delete
  11. As long as my actual blog doesn't disappear I'm happy! :D x lol I love what you wrote "unlike other bloggers who scream and shout “what they heard”, I actually went to investigate it." haha so true!!! xxx very informative thanks honey! x

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    Replies
    1. Exactly! There are alternatives for following :) Lol it just got me annoyed!! Just one bloggers has to say something and everyone thinks it's true. Sometimes they even make it worse than it is.. Sigh..
      Thank you! :) Xx

      Delete
  12. thank you :) you're a smart cooki !

    ReplyDelete
  13. Saaal, thanks voor je lieve reactie op mijn Royal Albert Hall outfit! Goed dat je dit met iedereen deelt. Ik wist niet eens dat Google Reader weg ging tot jij dat gisteren tweette. Ik wacht wel af wat er gebeurt, haha!

    XX red--sonja.blogspot.com

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    Replies
    1. Geen dank! Er zijn veel geruchten ontstaan omdat niet iedereen wist wat er aan de hand is, dus ik ben hier om de informatie te vergaren die ik heb! X

      Delete
  14. I agree. I did all the research you did and saw that it was Google Reader, so I haven't panicked yet:)

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  15. Thank you for posting this!! I also did research the other day when 90% of the blogs I follow posted about this. I use my blogger dashboard to read blogs, so losing Google reader doesn't affect me. I read the blogger blog and like you, noticed it never said anything about GFC....yet :) People need to stop freaking out! Ha!

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  16. Google can do whatever they want with all of it, and there is nothing we can say or do. I guess that point is driven home again. They think they are indestructible, apparently.

    ReplyDelete
  17. Thanks for your super informative post ♥ I heard people panicking so I went on google. When I put something like 'gfc disappearing?' in, your blog came up ;D So yeah I was not a follower but I just became one ♥ Your other posts are really nice too! I hope we can stay in touch :')

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  18. Thanks for posting this and for providing us with the info. that you got!

    www.ameliorerlavie.blogspot.com

    ReplyDelete
  19. "GFC closing" is a rumor, it will stay on Blogger sites only but it already closed down for other sites like Wordpress, etc. Us Blogger users don't have to worry, for now. I just came across your blog and I'm your newest follower :) Would you mind checking out our blog and (if you like) following back via GFC and Bloglovin'? Looking forward to your next post! XX

    sixthtractate.blogspot.com

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  20. Thank you so much for sharing this! I hope they wont close it one day! x

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  21. Oh super! Bedankt voor je searching, dit scheelt me een zorgje :)

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  22. Thanks so much for the information and for helping to clear up the rumours. I've referenced your article in one of my posts to let my readers know what is happening.

    Lisa D.

    ReplyDelete
  23. Oh my gosh, THANK YOU SO MUCH for this post! :D x

    ReplyDelete

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