Friday, June 14, 2013

Au Revoir, Google Reader



Much to my sadness, Google Friend Connect and Google Reader are being shut down at the beginning of July. For those that are unfamiliar with these Google services, they were great tools to easily follow blogs that you loved and see all of their posts in one continuous feed. As sad as I am to see them go, it'll be great to test out some new services and challenge myself to promote my blog in different ways!

There are two ways you'll be able to follow this blog in the post-GFC era:

1. Bloglovin' - This is essentially the same thing as Google Reader. You can create an account and click on the "Follow this blog with bloglovin'" button, and all of my new posts will be automatically updated to your feed. Most blogs (that I read, anyway) will be connected on Bloglovin' and will have a Bloglovin' follow button attached to them. You can also import all of the blogs that you already follow on Google Reader to you Bloglovin' feed by clicking here!

2. Facebook - And if you don't feel like creating yet another new account on yet another website, I just launched a Facebook page for FEN (right here!), and will be linking all of my new posts to it. Click "Like", and all of my new posts will end up on your news feed!

Hope this was helpful! xx

EDIT (June 18, 2013): It's been pointed out to me by a couple commenters that GFC will not be shut down come July 1st, only Google Reader. I have added the GFC widget back to my sidebar, so if you're a Blogger user, you can follow my posts on your Blogger feed by clicking the "Join this site" button on the right! :)

11 comments:

  1. This annoys me so much! I've gradually gained GFC followers and now they're all going to go?! I love to use bloglovin to read blogs though as you can categorise them :) I'll follow you on there now
    Georgia x
    http://georgiabellalily.blogspot.co.uk

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    1. I know! GFC is so easy. I'm so bummed out! I didn't know you could categorize on Bloglovin', though. That's an awesome feature!

      Thanks for the follow - I followed you back! :)

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    2. i don't understand why they decided to stop.. :/ but luckily we got bloglovin! i followed you there :D

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    3. Thank you! I've followed you as well! :)

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  2. I don't know why everyone thinks that GFC will go down with Google Reader! GFC is an app connected to the Blogger platform mostly, so as long as Blogger will be up, or at least for a while so GFC! So after july we will remain with GFC (not sure until when), but without Google Reader :D

    http://visiononfashion.blogspot.ro/

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  3. Google Friend Connect is not leaving. I actually did an entire post which I will link, explaining all the confusion. GFC isn't leaving, only Google Reader is leaving. GFC is only unavailable for all non Blogger platforms, but that has been applied since late 2008. Here is the post I did on GFC not leaving. http://www.sillysilberman.com/2013/03/google-friend-connect-is-not-leaving-us.html

    Jordan XXX http://sillysilberman.com

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  4. Thank you for pointing that out, Adina and Jordan! I've made an update to the post. :)

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  5. I started a new blog recently and wasn't able to set up GFC, fortunately I still have it on my current blog which is more seasoned.

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    1. If you click on "More Gadgets" and scroll through you'll eventually find the "Followers" gadget. It's a little hidden away, which leads me to believe they may get rid of it one day. I hope they don't!

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  6. If you're looking for a replacement to Google Reader, I recommend Feedly (www.feedly.com) hands down! They've made it really easy to import your feeds from G Reader, and it has a clean, beautiful interface. The mobile app is really great too! I've used Feedly for a few months, since Google first announced that Reader was being discontinued, and I still love and it and use it daily!

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    1. I've heard a couple people recommend Feedly! I'll definitely have to check it out, especially because they have a mobile app! (As if I need another reason to be attached to my phone at all times. >_>) Thanks for the suggestion, Nicole! :)

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