Thursday, June 2, 2011

How to Keep Track of My Blog

Here’s how you can easily follow and keep track of my blog!

Google Friend Connect

The widget to follow my blog is now on the top of my blog.

Here’s how it works:

Do you have a favorite blog and want to let the author and readers know that you are a fan? Well now you can do that and more with the Blogger Following feature! You can even keep track of the blogs you follow via your Reading List on the Blogger dashboard.

How do I become a Follower of a blog?

There are several ways to become a follower of a blog. One of the easiest ways is to visit a blog that has added the Following widget and click on the "Follow" button under the "Followers" widget:

You'll then see a popup window with the options to either follow publicly or privately:

Select how you'd like to follow the blog, then click the "Follow this blog" button. It is that simple, you are now a follower of the blog! If you elected to follow the blog publicly, your profile picture will be displayed on the blog with a link to your Blogger profile (Note: The widget may not show all followers of the blog. If this is the case all followers will be linked from the widget). When you become a follower of a blog, the blog will also be added to yourReading List on your Blogger dashboard and this site will also show on your FriendConnect profile for all the sites you've joined using Friend Connect. Additionally, you can become a follower of any blog or URL (even if the blog doesn't have the Followers widget) by adding the blog to your Reading List on the dashboard.

FTP Blogs

If you join/follow an FTP blog from your dashboard or the Nav bar, the owner of the blog WON'T be informed that you followed the blog. However, if you join/follow normally (via the gadget) the owner WILL be informed that you followed the blog.

How to remove yourself from following a blog

The easiest way to remove yourself from following a blog is to visit the blog, and click "Settings" under the Following widget on the blog.

You will then see a pop-up window with your profile settings. Click the "Stop following this site" link and you will be removed from following the blog. If the blog doesn't have a Followers widget, you can still stop following the blog. To do so, go to the "Blogs I'm Following" tab under your Reading List on your dashboard.

Then click the blue "Manage" button. You will then see a list of all the blogs that you are following. To stop following a blog, click the "stop following" link next to the blog you want to stop following.

Lastly, following a blog will create a subscription to the blog in your Google Reader account.


Twitter

My Twitter name is @DJDRizz87.

Once you follow me on Twitter, you will be able to access all of my blog posts, which are shared via TweetDeck to Facebook, MySpace, and Twitter.

Here’s how you follow my Twitter:

What is following?

Following someone on Twitter means:

  • you are subscribing to their Tweets as a Follower
  • their updates will appear in your timeline.
  • that person has permission to send you private Tweets, called direct messages

If you follow @sprsquish, you'll get their updates on your homepage when you log in, as shown below. Your follower/following statistics are also listed on your home page.

See who follows you on your followers page, and make changes to who you follow on your followingpage. To learn how to follow someone, read our article about How To Follow Others.

What are followers?

Followers are people who receive your tweets. If someone follows you, they:

  • become your follower and will display in the 'newest follower' section shown above.
  • receive your tweets in their home page, phone, or any application (like Tweetie, TweetDeck, etc.) that they use.
  • If you follow someone, you are their follower.

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To see who someone is following, just click on the “following” tab in their profile. From there, you can chose to “view as timeline” or “view as list of people.”

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The “view as timeline” option shows you Tweets from accounts they follow.

Screen_shot_2011-05-25_at_11.38.12_AM.png

The “view as list of people” shows all of the accounts they follow. You also have the option to see who you both follow.

Screen_shot_2011-05-25_at_11.40.07_AM.png

FAQ About Following:

How do I know who I'm following?
  • You clicked the 'follow' button on their profile
  • In place of the button on their profile, you see bold text reading 'Following' with an 'unfollow' link next to it.
  • They appear in your 'following' list, linked on your home timeline, just below your username.
How do I know who is following me?
  • Twitter sends you an email to let you know when someone new follows you, by default.
  • Set up your email preferences to notify you when you have a new follower.
  • The followers link on your profile page or home page's sidebar will also tell you how many followers you have and who they are.
How do I get followers? Can I ask someone to follow me?

There is no way to ask other users to follow you on Twitter. Though some users send an @reply to others asking them to follow, this isn't the best way to gain fans on Twitter. You should also avoid third party applications that promise to get you many followers, as these usually break our terms of service and can get your account suspended. The best way to gain friends and fans on Twitter is to engage with the service, follow others whose Tweets are meaningful to you, and be an active part of the Twitter community.

Can I restrict who follows me, or sees my updates?
  • Yes: protect your profile.
  • Protecting your profile means anyone who wants to follow you must submit a request for your approval.
  • Only followers you approve can see your Tweets, which will not appear in search engines.
Once I start following someone, can I stop?

Yes.

  1. Visit the profile page of the person you want to stop following
  2. Then, click the following button to expose the drop down box, and click "remove."

Twitter does not notify you when someone has stopped following you.

Is following like adding someone as a friend on other social networking sites?
  • No. Following on Twitter isn't mutual. Someone who thinks you're interesting can follow you, and you don't have to approve, or follow back.
  • Deciding to follow back and changing your mind later is fine- just visit the person's profile page and un-follow.
  • Twitter does not send a notification when you unfollow someone.
  • If you want to approve who follows your tweets, protect your account. The same rules apply – you can approve followers, but you don't have to follow back. If you change your mind, visit your following page and "unfollow" them.
I don't want a particular person to get my updates, but I don't want to protect my profile.

When all else fails, you can block someone from following you. But, they will still be able to see your Tweets because your profile is public.

What are "follow limits"?

Twitter has follow and update limits for site stability and abuse control. You can read more about this here.


Hope that this has helped you with accessing my blog and keeping track of it.

I completely enjoy all of you reading my blog!!

-Drew, Concerned American