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Google Friend Connect is gonna make me pull my hair out!

I swear I'm not asking for much!

First, when someone becomes a member of my site, I'd LOVE to check out their site and repay the favor. But when I click on someone's name, it just tells me the other sites they are a member of. That's great and all, but I want to follow my own members first!

Second, so say that I'm a "member" of someone's site. What does that really mean? I had thought their feed would be added to Google Reader but it appears not. So, what's the purpose of being a member to a site then?

Third, where do I see the sites that I joined? How can I participate on their site if I don't know where I'm a member? I know I can do their RSS but why should I have to do both?

Can anyone enlighten me on this? Please tell me there's some easy way to do all this so I can say "Duh!"

Thanks!

Tags: blogging, connect, friend, google

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Permalink Reply by tina reynolds on October 30, 2009 at 7:24pm

Good question. I wish I knew. It drives me crazy. Now it is only letting certain people join my site some its giving a 404 error and I have no idea why.

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Permalink Reply by Stefanie Zucker on October 30, 2009 at 7:52pm

I SOOO love, love, love you for asking these questions! I'm a member of several groups on MBC that are "follow me/follow you" type of groups...but several members have said they don't want to subscribe to my site...they just want to use Google Friend Connect because they don't want to get emails...they prefer to use a reader and catch up at their own pace. That seems logical...except I thought that was what subscribing by RSS allowed you to do. So I don't understand why it matters if you follow by Google friend connect or subscribe by RSS - (don't they do the same thing)?

One of the members also posted a link to Google Reader to show me where to find my GFC follows. So I went ahead and followed a bunch of blogs using GFC (and a couple that didn't have GFC I "followed" using subscribe by RSS). Problem was...the only ones that showed up in my Google Reader were the ones that I subscribed to. The GFC ones were MIA.

Still, I can see the attraction of following with GFC...(it's fast and easy to join a site by clicking the follow button), but then does anyone who follows me with GFC really see my new posts...because right now, I'm not seeing theirs. I kept asking these questions in the group I was in...and then I started to feel like an idiot so I stopped asking.

So THANK YOU so much for making me not feel so dumb... ...and I can't wait to read the answers that you get...and hopefully answer the questions I've been trying to figure out for weeks now.

Thanks!

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Permalink Reply by cathy parker on October 30, 2009 at 7:52pm

I've been complaining about Google Friend Connect for a while now.I'm so tired of visiting a site that I followed a week ago tell me that I didn't. I'm positive that I've been disqualied from several giveaways that I would have won because of this problem. And sometimes When I'm having trouble with Firefox, I switch to Internet Explorer and Vice-versa and then I have to follow EVERYBODY again! The concept of Google Friend Connect is wonderful but the mechanics stink!

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Permalink Reply by Heather Krebs on October 30, 2009 at 8:37pm

If the person only lists the sites they have joined it is likely they are not a blogger. Frequently I have GFCs that list the persons blog on my widget. I would love to see more interaction through this but I will take what I can get. Come by and follow and I will check you out too. www.myredapron.com

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Permalink Reply by JenReg on October 30, 2009 at 11:25pm

You are not alone - it thoroughly confuses me too!

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Permalink Reply by Fawn Rechkemmer on December 11, 2009 at 5:49pm

This is refreshing (not your aggravation, but the fact that there are bloggers on this site who don't live their blooging lives by the google follow). I have a wordpress blog and offer the option for people to subscribe via RSS or email. I was surprised at all the groups on this site specifically dedicated to "follow me, and I'll follow you" and at how many of those groups specifically said you had to use google's friend connect to be part of the group. I refuse to add the GFC widget to my blog, specifically because of all the issues you mention. Maybe we should start a "non-followers" group?

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Permalink Reply by Sue Laguna-Whang on December 12, 2009 at 10:51am

A non-follower's group?

I'm in!! lol

I can't add Google to my wordpress either so I added feed-burner instead.

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Permalink Reply by Melissa C on December 14, 2009 at 10:53am

Fawn and Sue-

Thanks for your comments! I've figured it out a little more but still think it stinks! Heather's right that if they follow you but have no blog listed, then they probably don't have one. On my Google Friend wish list is somewhere where I could see a list of all the blogs from the people that I follow and that follow me. Someone can enlighten me if there's an easy way to see that.

I'll still keep it on my site and I always join when I see it on other sites BUT I'd love to follow people through RSS feeds. That way a blog comes up in my Google Reader. If anyone wants to follow each other this way, as "non-followers" I'm up for it!

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Permalink Reply by Sue Laguna-Whang on December 14, 2009 at 11:20am

Melissa,

I added you to my feedburner ;)

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Permalink Reply by Rachel Miller on December 14, 2009 at 2:32pm

I follow people, through friend connect, but for some reason I can't figure out how to add my blog so that the people I am following can follow me back! Each time I try to set-up my account with them to have a blog they keep trying to get me to set up my blog with blogger (I have self-hosted wordpress). I agree, it's frustrating.