Is GFC Dead?
As many of you probably know, Google will be retiring Google Reader on July 1st, 2013. This news seems to have spawned a rumor that GFC, or Google Friend Connect, is likewise kicking the bucket. Fears abound that at midnight 7/1, GFC widgets across the world will disappear, and people will no longer be able to see their friends’ smiling faces, or be able to keep up with all their blogs, and the zombie apocalypse will be here, the moon will tear asunder, and the sky will fall in.
I don’t use Google Reader, and I don’t use GFC. I don’t even use Blogger! But I know many of you out there, my beloved readers, do. So, I did a bit of poking around to try to get to the truth of the matter. As far as I can ascertain, here’s the facts:
- Yes, Google Reader is going away. If you use Google Reader today, you won’t be able to use it on Monday.
- No, Google Friend Connect is here to stay–at least for now. I still hold to my prediction that GFC will one day be a thing of the past as Google try to encourage people to use their Google+ social networking site. But for now, GFC and the GFC widget are safe.
“If Google Reader is going away, what’s the point of GFC?” you might ask. Firstly, it will continue to keep a tally of your blog followers (at least the ones that register themselves in your GFC widget). And secondly, it will continue to update the Blogger Reading List, so you can follow blogs there.
I hope that’s cleared things up for you, and perhaps set your mind at rest. Unless of course the zombie apocalypse happens…!
One thing that definitely WILL be ending at 11:59 Sunday night is my Blog Birthday Giveaway. So, enter… NOW! 🙂
I was was literally wondering and worrying about this *seconds* ago. Thank you for the helpful info!!
You’re welcome. While not a GFC/Blogger user, I had heard some mixed messages, so I’m glad to be able to help.
(Tyler-Rose and I do occasionally wish we were on something other than blogger, but we’ve established ourselves there, so we’re there for a while at least…)
To be honest, I’m not a WordPress user by deliberate choice. I wanted to set up a blog, and a WordPress installation came with the web hosting service I use, so I went with it. Since using WP, however, I’ve come to find that many people prefer it over Blogger. I’m sure Blogger has its advantages, but I’m not unhappy with WP.