GFC is gone – now what

I have full page of post themes that I really should do, but I never take time to actually sit down and write them. So I went through it and decided to do the one that is maybe the most current – GFC “problem”.

For the first year we didn’t even have GFC on Parokeets blog. Then our readers started asking us if there is any way to implement GFC widget on our site. What exactly is GFC? We looked it up and saw that main feature of GFC is that is serves as RSS reader for Blogger/Blogspot bloggers. But as the feature was also available to non-Blogger blogs, we added it to our blog.

GFC followers on Parokeets blog
GFC followers on Parokeets blog

Last year Google decided to stop offering GFC for non-Blogger blogs as of March 2012. Not really nice of them, but I must admit I wasn’t really surprised. They were slowly cutting support for one GFC thing after another so webmasters saw it coming. And as it’s entirely possible that it will in time disappear from Blogger blogs also, I received a lot of questions about alternative ways to follow blogs (I use RSS for news also). I’ll try to be short and avoid technical babbling.

1) Facebook, Twitter, Google+

Not really the same thing, but you can still follow new posts if bloggers either have automatic posting system about new blog posts or they post them themselves. Our Facebook and Twitter page have automatic updates, while Google+ still does not have that option available so we add each post link manually. All three networks keep you updated with other things besides feed – photos, news, what is coming up …

Facebook and Twitter are pretty known so I’ll only explain how our Google+ works.

Parokeets blog RSS - Google plus
Parokeets blog RSS – Google plus

In the widget on the right side of our blog you can click +1 button which in essence says to Google and your friends – I like this page. You don’t need G+ profile to do that, but you do have to have Google profile set to public (something like that – it leads you how to do that if you do not have the option turned on). As far as I can see, only your friends can see which pages you “plusoned”.

Now if you want to follow our Google+ page (very similar to Facebook page), you have to have G+ profile. You go over Add to circles with you mouse and pick which circle you want us in (Follow or if you created circle for Blogs …).

3) RSS readers – FEEDLY

My current favorite among RSS readers is FEEDLY. I can sort blogs by topic, view by date published …

How to add blog to RSS readers? Just click on RSS button. It’s usually orange, but not necessarily so. On our blog, RSS buttons are located in upper right corner. We have separate feed for English language and Slovenian language.

Depending which browser you use you’ll see different options for Firefox, Internet Explorer, Chrome, Opera …

Here is how you add RSS feed in Firefox:

Parokeets blog RSS - Firefox
Parokeets blog RSS – Firefox

Chrome users will first have to install (it’s super fast) RSS add-on as Google doesn’t have built in RSS reader … I better leave that can of worms closed, as I could go on and on about the subject.

Parokeets blog RSS - Chrome
Parokeets blog RSS – Chrome

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I just knew this would turn into a novel. :D Now you met options I like to use to follow blogs, news … And at the same time, services you can use to follow our blog.

Which provider do you use for following blogs? What are you feelings about GFC shutdown?

24 thoughts on “GFC is gone – now what”

  1. I read all your post and I didn’t understand a thing! :( I just want to know if I’m still a follower of Parokeets. Am I? Do you still “see” me as a follower, somewhere?

    Reply
    • I don’t know what will happen in March, but until then, everything works as it did until now.
      If you are following us with GFC, you’ll probably have to switch to one of the services I mentioned above. :sigh:
      And that goes for pretty much all the blogs you’re following that are not on blogspot.com.

      If you need help, contact me at gejba(at)parokeets.com (I can’t check subscriptions with majority of applications).

      Reply
  2. I personally don’t like Google+, I find it complicated, so I don’t think I’m gonna use it. My blog is on blogger (I’ve purchased my own domain), yet my blogger dashboard has been broken for the last 2 months or so.. I see no updates and it also says I follow no blogs, although I obviously do.. I’ve also been having a problem with GFC in the last 4-5 days too, I can’t follow any new blogs, I get an error message…

    :angry: :angry: :angry:

    I’m following most blogs from my blogroll, I just add them there :) I used to use bloglovin’, maybe I should get back to it! x

    Reply
    • I must admit I like G+. :sorry: And if they changed their “real name” policy I would open “Gejba” profile too.

      Did you check their help forums? Googlers are slow to answer but others with similar problems are known to be quite helpful.

      Reply
    • I use all of the services mention above (I follow to many blogs for one or 2 to handle :sorry: ) and Bloglovin’ is becoming one of my favorite ones. :yes:

      Reply
  3. ja sam tuuuuužna i umrijet ću od tuge :drop:
    meni je gfc bio najjednostaniji i najbezbolinij način za praćenje blogova i svih ostalih stvari koje me zanimaju… ni jedna druga alternativa mi nije ugodna kao gfc :nono: ali pretpostavljam da ću se morati pomiriti s tim i gotovo :zip:

    Reply
  4. Thank you for this post. I had read that from blogspot blogs GFC will not disappear, so owners of blogspot blogs shouldn’t be worry about it.

    Reply
    • It’s true that it won’t disappear in March. :yes:
      But GFC newsletters are no longer supported for anybody (and the feature does not work correctly anymore) + the last time I checked GFC was still in beta stage so they never released it as fully functional software.
      If I were to speculate, I would say that they’ll try to “convert” Blogger followers into something else … G+ maybe?

      Reply
  5. I used GFC only for the purpose of giveaways. I follow yours (and many other) blogs on Bloglovin and so far I am very satisfied. I think Google’s trying to make us use Google+ by removing GFC option for non-Blogger blogs.

    Reply
  6. Google sux!!! They are cutting GFC because noone uses Google+ as its so stupid. Now Google forcing!!!!! users to use Google+
    :angry:

    Reply
    • That is probably one of the reasons, but if they really wanted to make huge impact, they would have shut down GFC for all the users. I guess we’re just not bringing enough money. :silly:

      Reply
      • I suppose they are going to shut down GFC sooner or later for everyone, including Blogger blogs. Google + is not a good product so now they’re trying to force everybody to use it no matter what :devil: . The problem is GFC is/was a unique and popular product designed especially for blogs and I don’t think there’s anything to replace it. Generally, it seems like Google doesn’t understand many things about blogs, the need of remain more or less anonymous for instance (in Blogger they suggest now replacing Blogger profile with the Google + public profile which reveals the name of blog author).

        I think that sort policy won’t do Google any good.

        Reply

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