At The Picket Fence with Vanessa Hunt

Where Ideas for your Home Meet Inspiration for your Heart

Big News For Google Friend Connect Users!

We have some exciting news to share for all of us concerned about the discontinuation of Google Friends Connect! 
As you’ve probably heard, the popular Google Friend Connect (“GFC”) is going away March 1st for non-Google blog platforms like WordPress, and the scuttlebutt is that it will be eventually phased out completely to be replaced by  Google+.  (now don’t panic yet!!) GFC was never really so much an “I follow this blog” tool as it was an attempt at the whole Facebook “friend, like” concept. Now we are being asked to join Google+ but have found like many of you it can be difficult to navigate.  
Bloggers know a good “follower” tool is really needed and we’d like to have one that is not tied to a million other services (seems like Facebook, Twitter and Google are linked to everything else on the Internet).  One that we can use JUST to keep track of our favorite blogs! 

We wanted a simple, fast, easy-to-use and reliable service. Those of us who use Linky Tools and know the owner/creator (Brent Riggs), realized he would be perfect for developing some kind of really easy to use “follower” system. So we contacted him, and he loved the idea.

We along with a few other bloggers were involved with the “Beta Testing” of this fabulous new tool!! And boy did we give it a run for it’s money…and Brent graciously listened to every suggestion, question and concern we had!  So without further ado we want to introduce you to:
LINKY FOLLOWERS (www.linkyfollowers.com)
Brent has created a FREE (and we all love FREE) service that a group of us mom bloggers have tested and helped develop. He is launching it today and you’re the first to be invited to try it out!
Keep in mind this is DAY ONE of the service… there will no doubt be some bugs that the test group didn’t catch. Just contact Brent (brent@brentriggs.com)… he is great about fixing things fast. Don’t let a bug or an “oops” hurt your first impression. You’re being invited to be some of the first users of this great new tool, and your feedback will help him iron out any problems very quickly.



But, there are already so many amazing options! You can group blogs by Favorites, Everyday and General and even Custom Groups.  You can create a Blogroll that includes Blogs that DO NOT have Linky Followers but that you like to keep tabs on, and you can highlight a Featured Follower!! 
One last thing, the inevitable question: can my GFC followers be automatically moved over? NO. Google won’t allow access to those accounts but more importantly, YOU really shouldn’t sign up someone to a new service. They should voluntarily sign up themselves.  You’ll need to ask your GFC folks (and all your blog readers) to follow you using Linky Followers but its easy, quick and did I mention, free?  They’ll love the tool. It’s  a cool way to organize and follow the blogs you love.
You can get started by FOLLOWING ME from my Linky Followers widget on this page… 


or you can locate it on our sidebar right above the soon to be gone Google Friend Connect widget!
 
We want to invite OUR friends here At The Picket Fence to give it a test try.  Just start by clicking on the “Follow Me” option and it will walk you through this easy process! If you have any questions feel free to ask them here or email us and we’ll be happy to answer them, or pass them on to Brent! 

We will be watching today and be sure to “follow back” all of our friends who sign up to follow us.  Just leave a comment letting us know when YOUR widget is up on your blog and we’ll follow you back! 

We will be posting next week in more detail how you can customize Linky Followers for your own needs! 
 
Remember you can also receive FREE email updates to your email inbox, follow us on our Facebook Page or Pin with us on Pinterest by clicking on the graphics below. 
 
See you tonight for Inspiration Friday!

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  3. Just a little FYI, if you only see a “blank” space but see your blog name when you scroll over it’s because you have not uploaded an image yet. But you are still following. Working to see if we can get a “generic” image to replace the empty thumbnail area.

    HEather

    Reply

    • Hi Dawn, That will be up to you. There seems to be a very real possibility that GFC is going to go away for everyone. Google REALLY wants everyone using Google+. Originally GFC was created to be a competitor of Facebook but it didn’t work that way. Now that they have Google+ it is likely they will push everyone over to that. Now, Google+ may be a great option for people, but it hasn’t been super user friendly and many people just want a simple way to keep track of the blogs they read and the followers they have.

      For non Blogger blogs there will be no other way of listing followers and following blog except through a blogroll widget. This means that GFC might become obsolete with so many WordPress blogs abandoning it and many Blogger blogs are migrating over to WordPress.

      We HOPE that this will be a good solution. Just remember though we are still working out the kinks. It’s still in Beta testing form. PLEASE feel free to ask if you have any questions!

      Heather

      Reply

  13. Oh my Goodness I am so EXCITED about this…. So much so I only read 1/2 of the post…. I hope this works for WORDPRESS…. I am going to sit and read over this… But got ANTSY and had to comment… LOL!!! 🙂 This is GENIUS…. GENIUS I Say!!!!

    Reply

    • Yes everyone! This works for WordPress for sure (which is why it was created) as well as blogger and WordPress.com blogs (they just need to grab another type of code which is listed for them)Wordpress users are the ones in mind for this. Let me know if you have any questions.

      Heather

      Reply

  15. Hi everyone! Please keep leaving comments and questions and your blog names, we will be sure to follow ALL of our followers who sign up over the next few days.

    I need to take a “back to my real life” break for a little while but I will be checking in to help you all.

    PLEASE remember we are still working out the kinks. It may do weird things on occasion, bear with us…remember you’re part of a special “test” group. 😉

    Heather

    Reply

  16. I noticed on your sidebar your Boxes are in a Straight line Down… Is there a way to configure it in a Box GFC style…??? Oh My goodness I am so EXCITED… Did I mention that Already…. I am one of those who tried the Google+ out and let me tell you it’s NOT user friendly… I still get lost in it… 🙂

    Reply

    • This is just a wonky coding thing right now Angelina. If you want to wait and add your widget when you see mine is fixed you can. Brent is still working out all of the kinks so things may appear a little off every once and awhile.

      Reply

  17. OH MY GOSH! You two are seriously awesome! I just had a Blog Rant (https://www.herballisticgarden.com/2/post/2012/02/blog-rant.html)this morning about this very issue…and no comments or help back yet. I have started following you on this tool and have added the widget to my sidebar. Thankyou so so much for solving my dilemma. I’ve already e-mailed Brent to tell him thankyou as well. I feel so much better and so should you! I’m going to go write a blog to link back to this blog and encourage my readers to follow me on Linky tools! xo wendy

    Have a terrifically, wondrous day soaking up the praise!

    Reply

    • Angelina, look at my reply up above to Lakeshore Cottage Living, it should help you get your widget code for your sidebar. Just make sure you’ve added your own blog to the website and then it will open a box to get your code, just like when we get codes for our parties. Make sure you grab the code for selfhosted WordPress blogs and not the second code below that is for WordPress.com blogs only. Let me know if you need anymore help.

      Heather

      Reply

  19. Good Job!! I love my followers and I would like my non-bloggers to watch what I’m doing at My Cozy Corner.
    Thanks Ladies.
    xo
    Betty @ My Cozy Corner

    Reply

    • Susan it will pop up for you once you add YOUR blog to the website. It will create a code for you to add it to a html/javascript gadget like when you add a party or blog button or anything to your sidebar. See my reply to Lakeshore Cottage Living up above for instruction on where your widget code is located.

      HEather

      Reply

  28. What a fabulous idea – thank you thank you thank you, Vanessa and Heather and Brilliant Brent at Linky Tools!! I’m a *new* follower today!

    Reply

  29. Thanks for the great info! Just signed up to your blog, and added the linky tool to my blog harrisonhomeblog.blogspot.com! Thanks again!

    Reply

  30. I’m really excited to hear about this. I was getting worried…more about how I would follow my favorites than anything. I’m all signed up and it’s posted on my blog.

    Reply

    • I am so sorry about your ads? Did you add the linky tool with a new widgiet or did you possibly delete your ad widget on accident? I know you can add the ad widget back in, but the one shouldn’t effect the other. Let me know if you get it fixed. I’m headed over to take a peek at your blog and see if I notice anything.

      Heather

      Reply

  42. Hey girls! Wow, so glad to add this to my blog. I was felt paralyzed thinking about GFC going away, and I hope this turns out to be a great replacement for all of us!

    Just added the widget to my blog, too!

    As bloggers, I assume we should be routinely giving plugs to this new feature? How often do you think you will promo it? We don’t want to wear readers out, but don’t want to lose them, either! 🙂

    Appreciate y’all!
    Amanda

    Reply

  45. I’m following you through Linky Followers. Where will I be reading this from? My email or a reading list through by blog?

    Reply

    • For now Michelle, you can read the blogs you follow from the Dashboard of LinkyFollowers. There is a blog roll button on your dashboard.

      It is extremely complex to push through blogs every few seconds into an RSS feed or to an email. Only powerhouses like Yahoo and Google are able to do that as of now. But this option would be the equivalent of checking your Twitter feed or Facebook updates by going straight to the site. We are just bookmarking it or clicking on the Linkyfollower link to go straight to our dashboard. Of course you can still always add blogs to your RSS feed to see them in a reader. This just allows a visual way to keep track of your followers as well as an option for people to see all of the blogs they follow neatly in one place.

      Additionally, we LOVE the option of categorizing the blogs we follow which neither GFC or readers have. Favorites, Everyday, General and Custom categories.

      Reply

  46. I’m now following you this way and will be adding this to my blog asap. The format is spectacular. I’ve been stressing over this for weeks now as I have been wanting to switch to WordPress. I’m going to “promote and encourage.” Great job to all of you who were involved!

    Shari

    Reply

  48. this is really interesting. thanks for spreading the news. on our blog we used a code that will only show two rows of GFC followers, and i really like that a lot. i’m curious to find out if such customization will be possible with this linky way of following.

    Reply

  54. Thank you – all THREE of you – for creating this great widgit! I was wondering when/if anyone was going to remedy ANOTHER thing that Google is taking away from us that we love. You girls rock! I just read about it over at Courtney’s and added it right away to my blog. Following you, too!

    xoxo laurie
    heavens-walk.blogspot.com

    Reply

  58. This is very interesting! And I hope it takes off over Google+! I signed up, and am now following you!
    Jo-Anna

    Reply

  60. Thanks for hosting. I just added the widget for Brett’s new way to follow. When you get a chance please stop by and follow me back. 🙂

    Reply

  62. WooHoo!!!! I love it! What an amazing tool. I love that it resembles GFC in that I can see everyone’s pretty faces:)And being able to categorize blogs is freakin awesome! Good work ladies…I just signed up

    Reply

  63. I love this. I never used GFC but I love how easy this new tool is to navigate and to manage. It just might replace my Google Reader (gasp!). I am now following your blog! Thanks so much for the information and for making it user friendly!

    Reply

  75. Thanks for the tutorial girls. It was very easy to do with your instructions.Installed on my blog. I am now following you on Linky Followers. Have a great weekend.

    Reply

  79. Thank you for getting the ball rolling on an independent follower system! I just started my blog but resisted putting up GFC even though I am on blogger as I didn’t like that it was being phased out on other platforms. So Linky Followers is perfect! A little independence is always good 🙂 I am now following you via LF, of course!

    Reply

  93. Oh… I was so happy to see this come out! I didn’t know what was going to happen to all the people I have worked so hard to join google friend connect. I really like linky followers. Love that you can leave comments so easily without leaving the reader. I have one question though, does something like that really change our stats because people aren’t actually visiting our blog? I am set up on my blog and a new follower here! 🙂

    Reply

  94. Thank you for this explanation – I think that thiswill be the answer I have been looking for. I tried google reader, but it bogged down my computer. Blogger dashboard is ok, but I miss some of the blog I like to visit every day.
    Following you now. Please come & visit me at Permanent Kisses

    Reply

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