Google has announced that it's popular blog interaction tool, Google Friend Connect, will be disabled as of March 1st, 2012 for all non-Blogger blogs and are encouraging users to make the switch to Google Plus.
There have been no recent announcements as to whether or not they will be removing it in the future on Blogger-based blogs... but with their decline in wanting to continue to support this feature, it seems inevitable.
If you are a regular blogger, you understand the importance of Google Friend Connect. This little widget has become almost a necessity on any blog looking to attract readership. Bloggers take years accumulating "followers" and that is not always an easy task. We would hate to see something we worked so hard on be erased with no acceptable alternative.
WHY GOOGLE FRIEND CONNECT IS IMPORTANT:
GFC connects blog readers to their favorite blogs. This means that blogs they "follow" show up in their blog reader subscriptions and drive traffic to every one they follow. If this is gone, how is one supposed to stay connected!?
The number of followers you have displayed on your blog contributes to your blog's success. It lets potential advertisers know how large or small of a site you have... which is vital if you are a full-time blogger and it contributes to your income.
Your GFC follower count shows your commitment to your blog. Bloggers know how much work it takes to raise those counts. It is currently the only way for readers to show their support for your blog.

WHY GOOGLE PLUS WON'T CUT IT:
Google Plus is a completely different idea than the simple GFC widget. It is a whole other social networking profile that bloggers would need to deal with. Currently, Google Plus does not allow you to transfer your GFC followers over to your profile.
We will all be starting from scratch. All of those month and years of hard work, gone.
Something that has been working as great as GFC does not need to be replaced by a completely different Google product that does not even allow the same capabilities.
PLEASE, GOOGLE!
Do not lose this feature! If you insist on scrapping GFC all together, at LEAST offer us users the ability to transfer what followers we do have over to a similar platform widget.
SIGN THIS PETITION
If you are a non-Blogger blog owner, OR a Blogger blog owner. If Google plans to scrap this widget all together, we are all in the same boat. Show your support and post a link to this petition on your blog!

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