Now normally a post like this would require some research. I don’t really have the time for that – I’m on a lonnngggg road trip, but I wanted to post this before I forgot. All my info is what I’ve heard, so it might not be totally accurate.
The thing is…
There have been many rumors that Google is planning to take GFC down. How true are those rumors? I have no clue. But after Google decided to yank the plug on Google Reader, lots of people began panicking. Google hasn’t really announced their plans and how it is going to effect the future of GFC. We do know they are making a HUGE push towards Google+. They added a Google+ follower widget to Blogger, and now, Blogger even has something called Google+ comments. (Which kind of sucks according to some bloggers.) I find that really interesting. There are certainly not that many people I know that Google + as frequently as other social media platforms. It isn’t a huge thing with my grade. (I’m a raising sophomore.) Facebook and Twitter are way, way more popular. Which is weird because my brother along with the rest of his grade appears to be obsessed with Google + and he’s only two years younger than me. It also seems Facebook isn’t that popular with them.
Anyways, going back to the topic on hand…. With the future of GFC seeming really cloudy,some people have even gone so far to take their GFC widget down (so no one would really follow by it). Others simply began to persuade followers to follow by bloglovin’ or some other ways of following instead. After all, GFC isn’t the only way to follow out there. Remember, lots of WordPress blogs don’t have GFC. Still, GFC seems like a pretty popular way to follow. I gained around 10 new followers via GFC the last month or two. That’s more than any other way. But people are quick to follow by bloglovin’ too. There are almost the same amount of bloglovin’ followers as GFC followers. Which is very interesting. GFC has been on the sidebar since when I first started. I added bloglovin’ around May or so. Very interesting indeed.
So where does that leave me?
I really don’t know. I guess I’m going to try to push people to follow in other ways besides GFC… That being said, I’m not ready to say goodbye to GFC yet. Who knows, Google might decide to keep it. As for me as a follower, I try to stop following new blogs by GFC and I’m attempting to follow blogs in more than one way. This way, just in case one service goes down, I won’t loose contact with the blogs I like.
My question for you guys is…
What method(s) do you use to follow blogs you like?
And, what are you’re feelings about GFC?
Personally, I don’t like following people via Google+. I like GFC because all the people I follow show up right on my dashboard which so convenient. But with all the rumors about GFC being shutdown, I’m trying to follow people through bloglovin just in case.
Great post 🙂
-Mari @ The Sirenic Codex
I don’t follow anyone by Google+ either and GFC is a lot easier. I really hope those rumors aren’t true. Thanks for stopping by! 🙂
I’ve switched to using bloglovin after my preferred method of google reader to keep up with who I followed got shut down. I mostly follow by facebook, networked blogs or twitter. I’m not really interested in Google+, I tried it out for a little while but just don’t find it that great.
I agree with you. Google + just isn’t for me. My only hope is that GFC doesn’t end up like google reader… Thanks for stopping by! 🙂