On March 1, 2012 Google will discontinue Google Friend Connect (GFC) for blogs that are not using the Blogger platform. However, the absence of GFC will affect all bloggers.
Via Google Friend Connect, your blog's RSS feed shows up in Google Reader. It is currently unclear if Google will remove this functionality on March 1. What is clear is that the GFC widgets that are currently displayed on countless blogs will be inoperable and the option to join a blog via GFC will no longer exist on March 1. You will need another option to stay connected to your favorite blogs.
What to do? What to do?
For starters, one of the first things you need to do is remove the GFC widget from your blog. There's no use in anyone joining for 6 weeks.
Encourage your GFC subcribers to connect with your blog in a number of different ways:
1. Subscribe via RSS feed
Most blogs will have an icon or a subscription box displayed somewhere on the blog to allow you to do this. For a more comprehensive explanation on why you, as a blogger, need to set up a RSS feed, read the Feedburner tutorial written by my pal Gigi, from Kludgy Mom. She highlights the whys of Feedburner. An RSS feed is incredibly easy to create with Feedburner.
To stay in touch with Pieces of a Mom, subscribe to my RSS feed.
2. Connect on Facebook
Most blogs have fan pages on Facebook. You can either perform a search in Facebook for the blog you are looking for or you can go to the blog to see if there is a Facebook widget or icon where you can easily "Like" the page.
To stay in touch with Pieces of a Mom on Facebook, click to "Like" my page. I update my Facebook page with all of my posts and some other relevant and helpful articles.
3. Follow on Twitter
Most bloggers are on Twitter and are very active there. I love the conversation on Twitter much more than on Facebook. It's more lively and more frequent. Again, you can perform a search on Twitter for your favorite blogs or check the blog for a Twitter icon.
To stay in touch with Pieces of a Mom on Twitter, click here to follow me. I am very active on Twitter and can usually be found tweeting about my favorite TV shows.
4. Send a newsletter
You can also send a newsletter to your current GFC subscribers to let them know how they can connect with you once GFC has been discontinued. I'm hoping that the blogs to which I subscribe do this. It really is the simplest way for your subscribers. They merely click a link in a message to make the new connection with you.
For more information, check out this informative post at momcomm.
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