A New Way to Follow Fiona and Twig!

Many thanks to my beautiful friends Heather and Vanessa

from At The Picket Fence  for allowing me to re-post

this great post with just a few tweaks!

{ my hallway vignette }

As you’ve probably heard, 

the popular Google Friend Connect (“GFC”) is going away March 1^st 
for non-Google blog platforms like Wordpress and Typepad,
and the scuttlebutt is that it will be eventually phased out completely 
to be replaced by  Google+.  (now don't panic yet!!) 

GFC was never really so much an “I follow this blog” tool 
as it was an attempt at the whole Facebook “friend, like” concept. 
Now we are being asked to join Google+ but have found 
like many of you it can be difficult to navigate.  

Bloggers know a good “follower” tool is really needed
and we’d like to have one that is not tied to a million other services
(seems like Facebook, Twitter and Google are linked to everything else on the Internet).
 One that we can use JUST to keep track of our favorite blogs! 

  Those who use Linky Tools and know the owner/creator (Brent Riggs),
realized he would be perfect for developing some kind of
really easy to use “follower” system.
So Heather and Vanessa contacted him, and he loved the idea.

The gals over At The Picket Fence along with a few other bloggers
were involved with the "Beta Testing" of this fabulous new tool!!
And boy did they give it a run for it's money...
and Brent graciously listened to every suggestion,
question and concern they had!
So without further ado I want to introduce you to:

LINKY FOLLOWERS (http://www.linkyfollowers.com/)

Brent has created a FREE (and we all love FREE) service 

that a group of bloggers have tested and helped develop. 

He has just recently launched this, and you’re among 

the first to be invited to try it out!

Don’t let a bug or an “oops” hurt your first impression. 

You’re being invited to be some of the first users 
of this great new tool, and your feedback will help him 
iron out any problems very quickly.  

Just contact Brent (brent@brentriggs.com)… he is great about fixing things fast.

But, there are already so many amazing options!  

You can group blogs by Favorites, Everyday and General and even Custom Groups.  

You can create a Blogroll that includes Blogs 

that DO NOT have Linky Followers but that you like to keep tabs on, 

and you can highlight a Featured Follower!! 

One last thing, the inevitable question:
Can my GFC followers be automatically moved over? NO.
Google won’t allow access to those accounts but more importantly,
YOU really shouldn’t sign up someone to a new service.

They should voluntarily sign up themselves.
You’ll need to ask your GFC folks (and all your blog readers)
to follow you using Linky Followers but its easy, quick and did I mention, free?  

They’ll love the tool. It’s  a cool way to organize and follow the blogs you love.

You can get started by FOLLOWING ME from my Linky Followers widget on this page… 

 or you can locate it on my sidebar right below the Google Friend Connect widget! I want to invite MY friends here at Fiona and Twig to give it a test try.  Just start by clicking on the “Follow Me” option and it will walk you through this easy process! 
So please sign up to follow me by clicking my Linky Tools widgetright where it says "Follow Me Via Linky".I have SO many great things planned for 2012, I'd hate for you to miss out! And don't forget, you can still follow methe old way, too...for now.
To learn more about this great new tool,visit THIS post from Heather and Vanessa.
Happy Wednesday!