Okay Google, sure it might be for selfish reasons on the surface, but really I'm looking out for your best interests in the long run (or Don't Take Away Google Friend Connect....I'm begging you!)

I was going to post about work (mainly about a certain individual - a pompous, sure-he-is-always-right, stick-his-nose-into-everybody-else's-business-because-he-know's-best, windbag who most likely raised my normally low blood pressure to dizzying heights yesterday) but instead decided to go with a Public Service Announcement.

Because really?  I'm sure you'd rather read about my rant with Google/Blogger (they ARE one and the same, you know) than about the pompous, sure-he-is-always-right, stick-his-nose-into-everybody-else's-business-because-he-know's-best, windbag who has the uncanny ability to make murderous feelings arise in your very soul as you are listening to him pontificating on how he is RIGHT.  And then being smug when he is cut down to size by someone else.  And then realizing that he is so arrogant that he didn't even REALIZE that he was being cut! *sigh*

Anyway...

I've been hearing whispers (and seen it posted on a couple of blogs) that our beloved Google/Blogger is doing away with the Google Friend Connect widget.

This makes me very unhappy.  According to what I've read, they are closing it down because it wasn't as successful as they'd like.....ummm, Google?  It works for me.  I like it.  I like it a LOT.  It's simple.  It makes following other blogs (even those that aren't Blogger blogs) easy.

Am I being paranoid or are you doing this to me just to make my life even more complicated?  Because seriously?  I do NOT need anymore complications in my life right now.

I want to be able to jump on to the Blogger dashboard - read all the blogs I follow and not have to go through some kind of different, crazy system to do so.

I don't do "readers" or "feeds" or whatever. I don't WANT to get blog posts in my email.  My email is crowded enough, thank you very much - didn't you read my post about email?  Seriously?  Are you TRYING to drive me crazy?

I get that you are pushing your Google + product - but to shut down something that I think a MAJORITY of your Blogger users utilize?  That seems foolish to me.

Yes, I'll adapt if you shut it down in March...but I won't like it.  And I have a feeling that a lot of the Blogger users out there won't care for it either.

Listen to your users, Google.  Don't turn into FaceBook and just start doing things arbitrarily and on a whim.  While it seems to be working for FaceBook at the moment, eventually it will start to push users to a different platform.

Just as what you are doing will cause a lot of users to begin to contemplate jumping ship. 

Tread carefully, Google.....don't say you haven't been warned.

And in the meantime? In the meantime, I shall be putting all my favorite non-blogger urls into my Microsoft OneNote for safe keeping until I can explore my options.

And if I were you, my dear friends - even if you are non-Blogger users, I'd start looking at the various options too, because odds are good that some of your followers use this widget and when it goes - they will disappear.  No longer will they receive your lovely posts automatically if they haven't come up with a way to find you.  Because I don't know about you, but as much as I love you all, I don't have your urls memorized.....yet.