The New Followers Gadget

The new Followers gadget is out - and is causing some confusion.

If you are Following a blog - either your own blog, or somebody else's - and you examine the Followers gadget, you will see a button labeled "UnFollow".

Long ago, "UnFollow" was a selection, in the "Options" menu.

The "Unfollow" button is there, to let you stop Following a blog that you are Following.

"Unfollow" lets you stop Following any blog - yours or not.

If you are Following this blog, you should see a button labeled "Unfollow".



Previously, "Stop Following" was just one link, in the Followers gadget Options menu. Now, it's a button, in the gadget.

This blog, with the Followers gadget, as I see it.



If I wish to Unfollow a blog - possibly because I can Follow only 300 blogs at any time - I can click "Unfollow".

Since I am Following my blog, I see a button labeled "Unfollow".



Long ago, "Stop Following" was an "Options" menu selection.

Previously, the "Stop Following"" option was available, behind the "Options" link in the gadget.

What we used to see.



A blog that you are not Following will display a "Follow" button.

We see a "Follow" button, on blogs that we are not Following.

I am not Following this blog.

Since I am not Following this blog, I see a button labeled "Follow".



It's that simple. If you are Following a blog, you'll see an "Unfollow" button. If you're not Following, you should see "Follow".

If you wish to Follow, you will need a Blogger / Google account - though not necessarily a GMail account.

If you see "Follow" when viewing this blog, you are welcome to click on the button.

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The #Blogger Followers gadget now has an "UnFollow" button, visible to people who are Following a blog. Previously, "UnFollow" was a "Stop Following" selection, in the gadget "Options" menu.

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Blogger Magic - Followers / Reading List Visibility

When we use Blogger Following, we create a link to our profile, from each blog that we Follow.

That's the primary purpose of Following - to see, and to be seen. We also create links from our Followers profile, to each Followed blog. That's the purpose of having a profile - to describe ourselves, by the blogs that interest us.

Everybody does not want other people knowing about every blog that we Follow, though. To let us Follow blogs without being seen, we can Follow anonymously - or hide a blog, from our profile on other blogs.

When we Follow a blog, we can choose to Follow anonymously, or publicly.

We can change the option, to Follow anonymously or publicly, when needed. If we Follow publicly, we can hide this blog, in our profile, on other blogs.

We can also hide blogs in Reading List, to keep the list manageable.

Change between Anonymous and Public Following.

There are two ways of changing between anonymous and public Following.

1. Use the Followers gadget.
2. Use the Reading List wizard.

Use the Followers gadget.

If you are Following a blog publicly, you'll have your icon in the Followers facepile (the icon cloud in the gadget). You can edit your profile, and Follow anonymously - or continue to Follow publicly, but with this blog hidden from other blogs.

Click on "Options", when you are logged in to Following, as yourself.

Then, click on "Site settings".

Or, if you are Following publicly, you can click on your icon, then "Settings".

Now, you have the Settings wizard, for this site.

Click on "publicly" - since you can see this, when Following publicly.

If you're Following publicly, you can choose to Follow anonymously - or continue to Follow publicly, but not include this blog on your profile.



If you are Following a blog anonymously, you won't have your icon in the facepile. If you want to now Follow publicly, and you are properly logged in, you'll still have "Options" - then "Site settings".

Use the Reading List wizard.

There are two Reading List management wizards - one for Blogger profiles, the other for Google+ profiles.

Changing Reading List, with a Blogger profile.

If you have a Blogger profile, you use the Blogger "Manage Blogs I'm Following" wizard - that you access from the Blogger dashboard.

If you have a Google+ profile, you'll use Google friend connect "Sites I've joined".

Start from the Blogger dashboard home page.

Click on the "gear" icon, to the right of "Reading List".

Some blogs are Followed publicly.

You can make any publicly Followed blog, Followed anonymously.

Just click on "Change to anonymous".

Some blogs are Followed anonymously.

You can make any anonymously Followed blog, Followed publicly.

Just click on "Change to public".



Changing Reading List, with a Google+ profile.

If you have a Google+ profile, you use Google Friend Connect: Sites I've joined. You can't click to this wizard, from the dashboard.

If you have a Blogger profile, you'll use Blogger "Manage Blogs I'm Following".

Start from "Sites I've joined".

Find the blog that's relevant - and click on "Settings".

Some blogs are Followed publicly.

This blog is being Followed publicly.



If you choose to Follow publicly, using a Google+ profile, you can choose to display this blog, as part of your profile - when your icon is displayed on other blogs. Alternately, you can Follow this blog publicly - but make it non visible, from other blogs.

To Follow anonymously, click on "Follow anonymously", and "Save".

Some blogs are Followed anonymously.

This blog is being Followed anonymously.

To Follow publicly, click on "Follow publicly", and "Save".

If you Follow publicly, you can choose to hide the blog from your profile. You'll be visible, on this blog - but your profile, on other blogs, won't point to this blog.



Hide and un hide a blog, in Reading List.

Besides anonymity in Following, we can hide a blog, to make Reading List manageable.

So, be aware of the options for choosing private ("anonymous") vs public Following.

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When we Follow a blog, using #Blogger Followers, we have several options to control our visibility on different blogs. We can make ourselves fully or partially visible - or non visible.

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