google connect - Stuff Parents Need

Many of you may have noticed that I haven’t offered any extra entries in my giveaways for following me via Google Friend Connect (GFC). There’s a reason for that! Google has decided that any blog not using Blogger (I use WordPress) can no longer use GFC as of March 1st. They have neither confirmed nor denied if readers will still be able to see posts in their feeds from non-Blogger blogs. I’m betting that you won’t be able to see them, which really really stinks if you regularly check GFC to stay up to date with your favorite blogs.

I’m actually taking down GFC on my site in a few days, so it won’t be an option to follow me that way anymore. If GFC is your preferred way to follow Stuff Parents Need, I do have several alternatives to suggest so that you don’t miss any of my fabulous reviews and giveaways!

1. Please strongly consider subscribing to Stuff Parents Need, either via email (delivered to your inbox each day) or through Google Reader, which is a feedburner service. Click here to sign up via email and click here to sign up via feedburner (or RSS).

2. If you prefer to follow blogs without a subscription to each and every post, consider adding me to your circles at Google+. This is sort of like a Facebook alternative with some cool customization options. I put updates there about all my current posts, so you can easily skim through them and decide what is relevant to you. Click here to follow me on Google+.

3. If you are more old-school in your social media, I’m on Facebook, too! All my posts are highlighted there, as well. Click here to follow me on Facebook.

4. If you prefer Twitter as your way to follow along, that’s an option, as well! Click here to follow me on Twitter.

All of these methods get extra entries on giveaways, so it’s honestly a great idea to follow me all 4 ways! But as long as you are following me on at least one other platform, we won’t lose each other when the GFC switch-off happens.

You may recall that at the end of April I made the announcement that I would be trying an experiment on my blog. I decided to test out an increasingly popular requirement that many review/giveaway blogs are setting: following the blog via google friend connect in order to be eligible for a giveaway.

Here was my hypothesis: Blogs that made this requirement were experiencing tremendous (and rapid) growth to their follower numbers by setting this requirement. I thought that there would be an attrition rate of a handful of people who didn’t want to use GFC, but that it would be offset by the very large number of people who would be willing to sign up or were already signed up, and would be willing to add my blog to their list in order to be eligible for the giveaways.

So for one month, I did set this requirement

My results were completely surprising to me. I found that my growth while requiring GFC was very similar to the growth I had the month prior, when I did not require it! During the month of April, my GFC follower number grew by 70 people. During May, it grew by 80. Though I find the difference to not be negligible (every person counts!), it is still so much smaller than I thought. I was honestly expecting my GFC follower numbers to be twice what they were in April with this requirement.

It seems that I incorrectly assumed that requiring GFC was the very best way to grow blog numbers. In fact, it had very little impact!

I’m SO glad I did this experiment, because I’ve been wondering if I should do it for almost a year now. I did it. I saw the impact, and I don’t need to do it again.

While I would love for you to still sign up for my blog on GFC, it is no longer a mandatory requirement (you will see it show up as a bonus entry, though!). In a month or so, I might try a month long experiment with requiring subscribing to the blog. I’ll give you advance notice if I do, and I’ll also report my results back to you. For any current giveaways where GFC is listed as mandatory, that is still the case, so just be aware of that.

This was so interesting, especially since it disproved my hypothesis! Thanks for sticking it out with me!

If you have a blog and you had a very different experience (or even a very similar one), I’d love to hear it!