The Real Blogger Status

Long ago, Blogger Following (aka Google Friend Connect) was part of a non Google community of social networks. If you wanted to Follow a blog, you had to login to the Followers gadget, but separately from your login session with Blogger . This let you login to Blogger to maintain your blog, and to Follow other blogs, using any desired Blogger or Google account that you wished. You do not have to Follow other peoples blogs, using the same Blogger or Google account that you use to maintain your blog - nor do you have to logout from your Blogger account that you are using to publish to your blog, so you can Follow somebody else's blog. This lets you separate blog ownership identity from blog Following and surfing activity.

This week, several confused blog guests have asked How do I Follow blogs that I'm interested in? I only see Google Friend Connect on the Follower gadgets. and, alternatively I am Following "xxxxxxx.blogspot.com" - but I don't see my picture on the blog! and My FeedBurner Following count is xxx. My Friend Connect Following count is yyy. Why the difference? Apparently, the Blogger Following feature is becoming more tightly connected to Google Friend Connect, possibly as part of the coming rebranding of Blogger, as Google Blogs.

The immensely popular Blogger social networking feature Following has been with us for over 18 months now, and we've seen quite a few improvements. We had privacy and security concerns about it, in the beginning. Even today, in Blogger Help Forum: How Do I? , we see more bloggers with concerns. How do I Follow a blog, without cluttering up my Reading List? and Can I Follow a blog without showing what other blogs I Follow? and How do I include a link to my blog, from my Following picture? and How do I know when somebody new decides to Follow my blog? In the beginning, none of those questions could be answered, with any encouraging details. Following has gotten better, though, with various site specific options, that should satisfy your dual need for privacy and for publicity. You start from the "Manage" button at the bottom of your Blogger dashboard , which gives you the " Manage Blogs I'm Following" menu. Similar to your Blogger dashboard, the menu...