Do You Need Google Friend Connect on Your Blog?

UPDATE: If you are stumbling across this post in some way, note that Google Friend Connect will be disabled on non-Blogger blogs in March 2012. If you need some ideas on how to move people over to other subscription methods, check out this post on How to Move Your Readers Away from GFC. 

What’s Google Friend Connect?

Google Friend Connect (GFC) is a couple of things. If you’re a blog reader and you see a widget on someone’s site,  you can follow their blog with a single click. If you’re on Blogger, that blog is then added to “Blogs I’m Reading” on your dashboard. If you’re a blog owner, adding the widget will allow readers who use GFC to follow you. As a blog owner, you can also do things like send newsletters out but the majority of GFC users just stick with following and being followed.

Google Friend Connect’s likability seems to be a WordPress vs. Blogger issue. Blogger users love it because it’s easy to see all their fave blogs on their dashboard. WordPress users either hate it or are indifferent because they can’t do anything with it but put a widget up.

Issues I Have with GFC (as a Product)

While GFC is great in theory, there are some issues that I see with the product itself:

• Unless you’re on Blogger, there’s no way to see the blogs you followed. Trust me, I’ve asked on forums, I’ve googled for answers, I’ve asked fellow bloggers but no one can tell me how. As a WordPress.org user, I can’t read blogs from it.
• You can’t install it on WordPress.com blogs. Period.
• Updates and improvements don’t seem to be on Google’s radar. Their most recent blog update for GFC was from 2009. That’s ancient.
• It often displays error codes or disappears entirely from your sidebar.
• It can clutter your sidebars (depending on what else you’ve got over there).
• It’s become a popularity contest that’s prominently displayed on your homepage. Depending on how many followers you have, this can be good or bad.

Speaking of popularity, I see over and over in forums posts with titles like “You Follow Me, I Follow You” and “Let’s Get to 100 Followers.” Honestly? It’s a false standard of measurement. Instead, follower chasers should be focusing their efforts of improving their blog design, their content, their interactions in social networks or whatever area they feel needs improving. Not racing for a number. [end mini-rant]

Robin Elton from Simple Green Organic Happy sums it up like this: “GFC is like yearbook signatures, a popularity thing with no real meaning/commitment.”

Why Do Bloggers Like It?

Sure there are some issues with GFC as a product, but there are some good aspects to it as well. Here are some reasons bloggers like using it:

• As a blog reader, Blogger users like to easily have their favorite blogs on their dashboard.
• As a blog owner, it’s a way to showcase follower numbers.
• As a blog owner, it offers another option to subscribe (it may be the ONLY way your reader follows blogs)

I think it’s extra important to note that some bloggers only know how to follow blogs through GFC. They aren’t familiar yet with RSS feeds so they depend on GFC to read their favorite blogs.

What Do Bloggers Say About Google Friend Connect?

I decided to ask a question on Facebook about GFC to see the responses. My question was this: If you visit a great blog and don’t see a way to follow through GFC, what do you do?

In addition, here’s what some fellow bloggers think about GFC:

Amy Bradley-Hole from Freaky Perfect and Be Better Branding (WordPress but previously Blogger) said: “When I first started blogging and used the Blogger platform, GFC was a great way to network and discover other blogs. But now I use a different platform, and I’ve found better ways to network. I don’t mind when I see it on other blogs, though, unless it creates a cluttered look.”

Tina Seitzinger from Life Without Pink (WordPress) said:  “I used it since I started my blog but now I am reconsidering. I am trying to keep my side bar clutter free and I think most people subscribe by RSS feed anyway.”

Amber Cullum from Amber’s Articles (Blogger) said: “I look for RSS button. No luck, I copy and paste link into Google Reader.”

Liz Jostes from Belle, Bean and a Chicago Dog and Eli|Rose Social Media said (WordPress but previously Blogger) in reference to my poll: “I would add ‘Subscribe via RSS but end up not really visiting’ as an option. 🙂 Back in my Blogger days, that’s what it was like for me. Since 95% of the blogs I wanted to follow had a GFC, the ones that didn’t never got visits from me because I’d simply forget about them due to them not being in my Blogger dash.”

Jennifer Curtis from Always in Wonder (Blogger) said: “I usually follow on FB or twitter then and hope to see new blog updates that way.”

Andrea Updyke from Lil-Kid-Things (WordPress) said: “I took GFC off of my blog because it didn’t seem to offer any real purpose other than a public means of showing the amount of followers I had. It seemed to spur on unhealthy comparisons between blogs and as only one means of measure, I felt like it was getting too much airtime. I personally don’t use GFC to read blogs so I took it down. Hopefully, people who want to subscribe will use RSS, email or come to Lil-Kid-Things directly.”

Should You Use Google Friend Connect on Your Blog?

Honestly, I can’t say definitively to use it or don’t use it. Don’t ya hate that?

Here’s why: despite the issues with GFC, it does still serve a purpose, especially for Blogger users. I’m definitely all about making things easy on your readers by giving them what’s easiest for them. I blog about it often. BUT when it comes down to using GFC on your own blog, it’s your choice.

Reasons You May Decide Not to Use GFC

• If you need that extra space in your sidebar for something else you consider more relevant or important
• If it keeps giving you trouble or keeps disappearing
• If it’s making your sidebar too cluttered

Most (but not all)blog readers know they can subscribe to your blog in other ways, like RSS or RSS via email. BUT you have to be okay with the fact you may be preventing some readers from keeping up with your blog by not having it.

If you decide to remove it (nor not to add it in the first place), it won’t affect your current followers at all. Just so you know.

Reasons You May Decide to Use GFC on Your Blog

• If you want to give bloggers another option to subscribe (and for some bloggers it’s the ONLY way they “subscribe”)
• If you care about displaying your GFC follower numbers and avatars
• If you’re indifferent about GFC and already have it up

Lots of people don’t use GFC, but lots of people do. If you notice, I don’t have it on here or on Adventuroo (it used to be there but it would randomly disappear so I took it off). Nevertheless, I don’t fault people either way for their choice on whether or not to add it to their blog.

What Do YOU Think?

So, tell me: do you use Google Friend Connect (either as a reader or a blog owner)? Why or why not?