Sunday, January 31, 2016

Who Stole Your Followers?

Did it!!

I have read concerns about losing followers on so many blogs recently and, so far, 24 followers have disappeared from the Friends of my blog. While this seemed strange and has never happened to this extent before, I felt that as long as the 30 or so friends who regularly post comments and have been there for me when my life became difficult, as long as they were still there, I would not really mind. 

But still, it hurts. I read posts by blogger friends who spent a lot of time going over their follower lists or were really distraught to the point of wanting to stop blogging.

Then yesterday, I read this here: 

My friend S. J. Qualls posted an announcement from our friends at Google Friends Connect that said this (Please click on link to read my friend's comment to the announcement):


December 21, 2015

In 2011, we announced the retirement of Google Friend Connect for all non-Blogger sites. We made an exception for Blogger to give readers an easy way to follow blogs using a variety of accounts. Yet over time, we’ve seen that most people sign into Friend Connect with a Google Account. So, in an effort to streamline, in the next few weeks we’ll be making some changes that will eventually require readers to have a Google Account to sign into Friend Connect and follow blogs.
As part of this plan, starting the week of January 11, we’ll remove the ability for people with Twitter, Yahoo, Orkut or other OpenId providers to sign in to Google Friend Connect and follow blogs. 

At the same time, we’ll remove non-Google Account profiles so you may see a decrease in your blog follower count. 

(Bold added by me, Inger, Oh, the arrogance of the people at Google!!!)

We encourage you to tell affected readers (perhaps via a blog post), that if they use a non-Google Account to follow your blog, they need to sign up for a Google Account, and re-follow your blog. With a Google Account, they’ll get blogs added to their Reading List, making it easier for them to see the latest posts and activity of the blogs they follow.

We know how important followers are to all bloggers, but we believe this change will improve the experience for both you and your readers.

I don't know where this announcement was posted, I know I never saw it.  All I know is that many bloggers were upset about the loss of followers and I'm so glad that S. J. Qualls posted this on her blog. 






33 comments:

  1. It's the pits and very frustrating.

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  2. I've been lurking here for a long time, reading your posts but not commenting. But I must say thank you for this post. That explains something to me about my blog!!!! I'm thinking about moving my blog to another server. Google stinks. I read your blog via feedly so I don't think I've signed up as a follower. I'll do that now so your number will go up by one!

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    1. Thank you, I think I'm a follower of your blog. I used to read it all the time, but recently I have only had energy to read the blogs of those who left comments. I will definitely go back and make sure I do follow you. Looking forward to finding out how your life is going now.

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  3. Yes, I've seen my followers go down, too...

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  4. You're right, Google did it....

    About 4 weeks ago I posted this notice about Google Blogger Friend Connect and you must have missed that post. So many followers were concerned of loosing followers and this put their mind at rest that it was nothing they said or did to make this happen.

    I just happened to check Blogger Buzz as sometimes they make some announcement of pending changes. You can find Blogger Buzz right under your Reading list where you add blogs on your list.

    It's frustrating as Many of my followers are being powered by other providers and i have a hard time getting comments on their blogs sometimes.
    When greed is present, nothing good comes from it.

    I hope that February will be good to you.
    Take care and stay safe and healthy.
    Hugs,
    JB

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  5. Hi Inger, I am not sure how many ways to get there, but I (A.) click on 'Design' (in the upper right hand of page)
    (B.)On left hand side of page - click 'Overview' (C.) buzz info is half way down that page. (D.) click on the update.

    As for the thing on the top of the Overview page about cookies ... I'm not sure what to think, if it involves me or not.

    Have a good week ahead!

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  6. Don't worry about the number of followers that have disappeared from your blog. It never really was a true count anyway.. No matter the number of followers it shows on my dashboard, I know there is only a small percentage of them who are still with me. Many of those people listed have disappeared from Blogger altogether, and others are not as involved as before. I treasure those who I have gotten to know and who have shared parts of their lives with me. Better to have fewer followers who have become friends than a large number that just show up on a counter. The same can be said of Facebook. It matters not the number, but rather the people I really connect with.

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    1. that's what I said up front, I really care about you all who have been so encouraging and wonderful during this past year. That's about 30-35 people. You have no idea how much you helped me get through it all.

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  7. Quality, not quantity :D I've got quality followers, like you do, Swedish Goddess! xoxo

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  8. Oh good grief. I wondered where those followers went...I thought they bot bored because I wasn't posting very often. Well, I have a gmail account and will be here for the duration...

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  9. In the last few days, I have lost 125 followers. Ouch! Google is trying to force us to use Google+ which I find inconvenient when I try to find the blogs of those who comment on my blog. I hate bullies. I will stay the way I am. This act on Google's part and me finding out my books have been pirated which explains why my eBook sales have gone from steady to ZERO ... well, it is pretty irksome. Hope your new week goes well. :-)

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    1. What?! Your books have been pirated? I hate bullies too and will keep my blog the same.

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  10. I've been on Google+ for a while & I guess it's a good thing I am!!

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    1. If you go there because you like it, that's one thing, but if they make all these changes to force you sign up, that's not right.

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  11. I have lost 4 over the last week, and thought maybe they were not following any more. So good to see KB here .And wonderful from your follower to give us this news.Your header photo, outstanding, a winner. Down here, another scorching day of 30C.All is well.

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    1. Snow here and a huge storm last night. felt like the house was shaking.

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  12. I never pay attention to the followers numbers. I guess I should. But I have only less than a hundred! I hope I don't lose anyone. I will always be here for you Inger! No worries. I don't like how Google is forcing so much upon us!

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  13. Thanks for sharing the info! Like you, I didn't worry too much about my follower count going down since the people I care about were still there... But it did irk me, nonetheless.

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  14. Isn't that silly? I thought people were angry with me so they stopped following.

    Love,
    Janie

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  15. I'm still here! Will be for as long as they let me.I use both followers and google+. Seems to be working.

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  16. I haven't heard of this but I don't bother about who follows me. Why do they have to make everything so complicated and difficult? Oh! Because they can!

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  17. I've lost followers too, it does seem like a real slap in the face especially as it takes a long time to get new ones too. It has left me wondering about whether I want to continue blogging. I love your header photo btw.

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  18. Thank you and I like your LL Cool Joe handle.

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  19. Well that gives a good explanation of what has been happening. I knew it wasn't me since so many others were going through the same thing. Thanks for clearing it up.

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  20. Oh I thought it was just me Inger - it was so disappointing to see the numbers down. We'd better all share this on our blogs ... Nuisance - blinking big corporations - it's probably something to do with them finally having to pay tax over here !!

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  21. I'm not quite computer savvy and follow you through email. That's how I get your posts and a few other blogs as well. What am I not getting here?
    And I love your blog!

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    1. Thank you Mary. I don't really know what Google is trying to accomplish by reducing our followers other than that people now must sign up with Google in order to follow a blog. And those who signed up using other social media have been deleted from our followers.

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  22. I do have a google account, so maybe I am following you that way and don't realize it...like I said ...not too savvy😱😱

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  23. Yes, Inger I also saw it a while ago and have noticed a drop in "followers"...it does make me feel like stopping!...:)JP

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  24. I noticed 2 or 3 of my followers that comment are missing, I don't see the point, but I guess they want to have us "in the Google fold"... Or else. Sigh. But, at least I have most of the ones that were dropped in my records in other places, so hopefully they aren't gone 'forever'.

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  25. Google reeks on a number of levels. Helping the government read people's emails is at the top of my list. I saw their policy statement a while back but it didn't fuss me any, I have never really understood following anyway. I thought it was just a way to convey greetings.

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  26. Thanks for sharing the infomation, Inger!
    Like Paula said, I never pay attention to the followers numbers too. Then I don't know if I've lost followers...
    Just now I went to the list of followers and I saw that some followers never left a comment on my blog and some of them don't have a blog anymore... Just curious...
    Lots of hugs and have a nice week!

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Thanks for leaving a comment.. ~~ Inger

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