you have probably heard by now the changes with google friend connect coming in march. google friend connect will no longer work on non-blogger blogs like mine. they are 'suspending service'. boo. so if you are following me with your cute little photo in google friend connect, starting march 1st, you will not see my blog in your reader or dashboard. i hope you will stay with me though… i would miss you!
if you are a blogger blogger, this will still change the way you follow/read non blogger blogs. people can still follow your blog with google friend connect, but if you are following a non blogger blog using google friend connect… you will no longer see that blog.
i have a new way of following my blog to show you… linky followers. i use linky tools for my 'in the studio' posts. the creator of linky tools has created a new way of following blogs.
sign up is easy. go to the website or click :: Follow Me :: (here or on the widget in my sidebar). there are directions to guide you through the steps. just register and you will get a confirmation email. when you first sign in, you will see a widget code for you to use on your blog. this is available at any time if you aren't ready to use the code then. you don't have to put one on your blog either, you can use it just to follow and read your favorite blogs.
you can then add your thumbnail that will be seen by the blogs you follow.
there are easy to use tabs on your dashboard… including blogs you follow, your followers, your private blogroll, and manage your stuff.
'blogs you follow'… from here you can use categories to organize the blogs you follow. you can also create your own categories!
'your followers'… you can see a list of who is following you. you can easily visit their profile and then visit their blog if you would like to.
'your private blogroll'… this is where you can put in blogs that you would like to follow and read in your blog reader that don't use linky followers.
'manage your stuff'… from here you can edit your profile, add a thumbnail message that people see when they mouse over your thumbnail photo, add your blog and blog name, and create a profile message for people to see when they look at your profile. when you are done… just click 'save profile' at the bottom of the page!
you also manage your blogs from here. you can customize the widget for your blog. you can add a 'featured follower', set the order of followers, and set how many thumbnails you want shown in your widget. this is also where you update your latest post… the only down side about this entire set up. you have to manually update your posts. you just put in your title and click update. not hard to do, but something you will need to remember to do so your followers see that you have a new blog post up. having this done automatically takes a lot of computer power and since this is a free service, it isn't something that can be done at this time. with all the other great features, i think it is worth it though.
then there is the blog reader. i love this…one of the best features in my opinion. just click the blog reader (big orange) button on your dashboard to bring up all the blogs you are following. then, you click 'view blog' next to the blog you want to read and it brings up the blog below the list. click the orange circle with white triangle to expand to the entire blog. since it shows the entire blog, you can click on any blog tabs or sidebar links and leave a comment! :) yes… you can leave a comment right there without leaving your blog reader! when you are done with a blog post, click the arrow to minimize back to your list.
i hope this gives you a bit of an understanding of linky followers. like anything new… it might take a little time to understand. but i think he has made a really easy system to use.
if you have any questions… please ask and i will try to help you out!
so what do you think… are you going to try it?
there are other ways of keeping up with your friends and your favorite blogs too. a few of my friends have made posts to explain some of them…
jacqueline from them pates talks about blogger dashboard and blogs on side bars.
jen from i believe in love talks about google reader.
stephanie from beyond words designs talks about bloglovin'.
Would you use this instead of blogger dashboard? I'm slow at new technical stuff so I would have to see it step-by-step to understand it. That's an idea! You can take screen shots and show me what you mean. ;)
you can still use blogger dashboard if you like it renee! just make sure you know how you have 'subscribed/followed' the blogs in your dashboard. if you are seeing them in there because you have followed them on google friend connect… if they are a non blogger blog (like me) you won't see new posts after march 1.
Okay – all taken care of. Whew!
linda… you make me smile!! :) good job! you already set up your account?! did you think it was fairly easy?
It was easy Jennifer. Seriously, if I can do it, anyone can!
i thought it was too… but didn't want to speak for others. thanks linda!
oh good grief. I was in denial. Hoping it wouldnt affect me. Will have to re-read through tomorrow and figure out what to do when I have more computer time. Yes… trying to set computer time limits at my house. WInk
This may be the best tool yet! Thanks Jennifer for doing all the legwork!
That is an awesome tool. I will have to check it out. I hadn't heard of it. Following here. Blessings.
thank you so much alene… so nice to have you here! :)
I am having a hard time figuring out which blogs I following using blogger. Do you think if I go to my blogger account and print a list of all of those blogs that will help me? I put the "follow me" widget on my side bar today. Thank you!
just followed you barbie! :) just remember that you have to update your own posts there. that will show your followers if/when you have a new post. on your dashboard… click the "Last Posted Date" and type in your post name when you have a new post up.
do you mean the blogs you follow through google friend connect? are you using google reader? if you are using that… i can explain how to see the ones you have subscribed to through gfc!
Hi Jennifer,
Thanks for your comment and certainly you can follow our blog. I appreciate the prayers to for our little bug.
I must say you are very talented, loved reading your blog here. Plus I got educated on Linky tools lol. I better get myself organized here so I don't loose my followers. Just when we get it all down, someone has to change it!
I'm going to come back and take some notes if you don't mind.
Have a delightfully blessed day!
Ivy
thank you so much ivy… you are so sweet! you are a blogger (blogspot) blog, so you should be ok with your followers. you would just need to change the way you are following any non blogger blogs if you follow them through google friend connect.
I think my favorite feature is that you can see the whole blog and leave a comment!
Oh Jennifer I am sorry to hear of the changes. Glad for an alternative route!
OK, it's done! I wasn't sure how I followed you before, so I signed up just in case! I don't adjust to change very well, though! ;)
i hear you amy… i was so bummed about gfc ending. i have a lot of blogs that i have to change how i follow them now too! glad i will still be seein' ya! :)
I use Google Reader to follow blogs. Do I need to do anything to continue following you and all the others?
Thanks so much for this great info!
it matters how you subscribed to the blog in the first place lucy. you can read blogs through google reader by subscribing to a rss feed or by putting a url address in your google reader… either of those ways and you will be fine. if you read the blogs in google reader by following the blog through google friend connect on their site, then if they are a non-blogger blog, you will no longer see those updated blog posts. does that make sense? let me know if you still need any help! :)
That definitely makes sense! Is there a way to tell how I have subscribed? I usually put the URL address in the reader, but early on I may have used the other methods.
i think i know how to tell. lol in your google reader, on the left side is the list of blogs you read. near the top of the list it says 'subscriptions'… those are the ones that you have put in the address. below that list is a 'blogs i'm following' list. those are the blogs that you have followed by google friend connect. at least that is how i think it works… i checked a few and that seems to be how it works! :) do you have a blog lucy? i think this is the first time i have heard from you… nice to 'meet' you!
Thank you so much for the great info! I will check my reader. I don"t have a blog…yet. I have a website for my artwork http://www.lucyingels.com
I am currently taking Liv Lane's Build A Blog You Truly Love e-course and I hope to one day have my own blog. Most things in the computer world are very challenging for me, so I have to really think it thru before committing to one.
I really enjoy reading your blog…thank you so much for sharing your wisdom and talent in the blog world!
Thanks for hosting this effective linky party. I see that the ones where 100-200 ppl link up is not useful to get new friends, visibility and blog traffic.
I know… GFF is going, but as a wordpress user I tried so hard to understand and interlink it with my blog but i couldnt. WordPress has amazing custom page and theme options but that is the downside…I like twitter n fb to stay connected.
I did this linky thing … but my photo is not there … your instructions, were super easy … I just need to go back through the steps … Thank You for this most awesome info.