I suggest that, if you use GFC to follow blogs, you be sure to switch all of your subscriptions over to an alternative method of following/subscribing in order to guarantee that you do not lose any of those subscriptions or miss out on any posts. And if you are a blogger, then you will want to have some easy, alternative ways available for readers to subscribe to your blog.
At Mimosa Stimulus, you may subscribe to blog posts in the following ways:
- Subscribe to RSS feed in a reader (such as Google Reader) - This is probably the best way to keep up with all of your favorite blogs as well as news feeds. You can organize the feeds into folders (Books, Cooking, News, Favorites, etc.) and keep everything in one place for easy reading.
*Note - If you use Google Reader and want to prevent duplicate items from showing up in your feed from GFC, then click on the cog wheel settings icon in the upper right, then go to "Reader settings" and then uncheck the box that says "show followed blogs from Blogger." This will allow you to follow blogs via RSS and GFC (while it lasts) without the annoyance and potential confusion of duplicates. - Subscribe to receive posts via email - Subscribing via email means that you will receive posts in your email inbox. I have my emails set to go out each evening, if and only if new posts are made that day. I find that this is an awesome way to keep up with your favorite blogs.
- Like the Mimosa Stimulus page on Facebook - I just made a Facebook page for the blog about 5 minutes ago, so I could use some love in the likes department. Liking the page will give you the ability to see post updates in your Facebook news feed. I have set up a Networked Blogs account so that posts will automatically be sent to the Mimosa Stimulus Facebook page.
- Add Mimosa Stimulus on Google+ - I also just made a Google+ page for the blog. I'm not really sure yet how this one is going to work or if there's a way to automatically feed post updates to Google+ but I'll keep messing around with it to see how useful it is.
Some other places to follow me:
- Twitter - for links to new posts as well as my random ramblings
- Goodreads - I don't update my reviews on here as much as I should, but I keep my ratings up to date and you can also see what I'm reading or wanting to read. I'm also pretty active in some book clubs and groups over there. I won't ever spam you with invitations to groups or events or any of that stuff. So you can either friend me (and tell me that you follow my blog) or just follow my reviews.
- LibraryThing - Same as with Goodreads, basically. Though I use this one more for archival purposes and less socially.
Links to all of these things can be found in the sidebar (with the exception of Google+ because I'm still messing around with that one and will add a button for it once it gets more features and API support). If you have any questions, comments, or concerns about the upcoming changes to Google Friend Connect or about alternative subscription methods, then leave them in the comments or feel free to email me.
Thanks for this, I never knew! Going to start using an RSS feed reader from now on *heads off to search for one*
ReplyDeleteHow did you manage to have Google+ not yell at you for not having a real name for your profile? I've been battling this with them for months, as a result my profile is suspended and 'under review' which 'will only take a few days'.
ReplyDelete@kaye - I have my real name on my Google+ profile, and then through that profile I made a page for the blog. The same way that you do it on Facebook, basically.
ReplyDeleteGoogle+ dows that? That's ridiculous.
ReplyDeleteIt really is easy to follow blogs using two different methods. It is really transparent to me how I follow a blog, because whether I use GFC or RSS feed, I read them using Google Reader. What is annoying, at least for a while, is that now I've started signing up for the RSS feed for all non-blogger blogs, I get TWO of every post in my Google Reader. I guess when I switch to RSS, I should unfollow in GFC, but for some reason this seems rude to me....*driving me crazy*
ReplyDelete@Annette - You can change that in the Google Reader settings. In the upper right, click the little cog wheel icon and go to Reader settings. From there, uncheck the box that says "show followed blogs from Blogger".
ReplyDeleteI've spent a couple of hours this morning updating my blog to add three RSS feed links and I made a Google+ page. Best to be prepared just in case!
ReplyDeleteCan you pick the blogs you don't want to show? Because I don't want to block ALL of them from my reader.
ReplyDeleteAnnette, If you are also following those blogs via RSS, then they will still show up in your reader. What unchecking that box does is prevent Google reader from adding your GFC follow list to your reader's feed in addition to the blogs that you already follow via RSS. So the duplicates will go away, and any blogs that you add to your reader via RSS will remain. I hope that I am explaining it okay.
ReplyDelete