We love our Google Friends. That little box on the top right-hand side maybe (is) outdated, and, to many of you, irrelevant, but it has a special place in our hearts - primary evidence of commitment by you, the reader, to what we do, a clear indication of the growth of this site, positive (ongoing) feedback.
So, a message from Google to all our current "Friends", and for those who we hope will become Google Friends. We pass it on because we don't want to lose you and it seems relevant
"In 2011", the administrators write, "we [Google] announcedthe retirement of Google Friend Connect for all non-Blogger sites. We made an exception for Blogger to give readers an easy way to follow blogs using a variety of accounts. Yet over time, we’ve seen that most people sign into Friend Connect with a Google Account. So, in an effort to streamline, in the next few weeks we’ll be making some changes that will eventually require readers to have a Google Account to sign into Friend Connect and follow blogs."
"As part of this plan, starting the week of January 11, we’ll remove the ability for people with Twitter, Yahoo, Orkut or other OpenId providers to sign in to Google Friend Connect and follow blogs. At the same time, we’ll remove non-Google Account profiles so [the Allen Ginsberg Project] may well see a decrease in [its] blog follower count."
So - "If (you) use a non-Google Account to follow (this) blog, (you'll) need to sign up for a Google Account, and re-follow. With a Google Account, (you'll) get blogs added to (your) Reading List, making it easier for (you) to see the latest posts and activity of (all) the blogs you follow."
So, there you go. For those of you for whom this is relevant, re-sign up to The Allen Ginsberg Project. For those of you who haven't signed up, please, we implore you, do so. Like we say, we love our Google Friends!
Happy New Year, everybody!