Monday, May 2, 2011

New Blogger Gadget - Follow by Email - Pros and Cons

I recently noticed a new Blogger Gadget was added to their vast repertoire. This Gadget makes it simple for readers to follow blogposts by email. Immediately after seeing the Gadget, I added it here. I't easy to do by going to Dashboard, Design, and look on the layout where it says Add a Gadget, then click. It was first on the list of Gadgets. You'll see the results here in our righthand column. Once I did that, I decided to subscribe to our blog. For one thing, getting an email of my own or a fellow member's post lets me know it actually went live when it was supposed to. Sometimes they don't.

The funny thing is yesterday I was going through my emails and saw one with the sender, MAKE MINE MYSTERY, and the subject line the same. That confused me for a second, until I remembered about the email feature.

Anyway, I clicked on the email and there was Sunday's post in its entirety, complete with illustrations. Seemed like a great advantage, easier than typing in the blog url and waiting for it to come up.

Now, for the drawback. Unless the email reader realizes it's possible to click on the header or the small url at the bottom of the page after the actual post to get to the blog itself, that subscriber has no means of making a comment. Such a small difference, but to a blogger it's huge.

If you blog, you live for comments!

I'm hoping Blogger perfects this feature in the future, at least by making some reference to how to comment. It's still a great Gadget as is now, since it makes it more convenient for readers to see blog posts. And, there are many readers who don't comment anyway, so for them it's a great timesaver the way it is.

Anyway, now that you know how it works, you can subscribe to the emails and click one of those spots and still comment. Hope you do.

Anyone want to make a comment about the email Gadget, good or bad? I'd love to hear from you.

Morgan Mandel



Killer Career is 99 cents on
Kindle and Smashwords
http://morganmandel.blogspot.com/
http://facebook.com/morgan.mandel

17 comments:

larry said...

With the availability of RSS feeds, what's the point of this? I subscribe to over 250 blogs. I can't imagine having all those blog posts cluttering my inbox. It's far better to have them show up, well-organized, in Google Reader.

Cheers --- Larry

Unknown said...

Hi, Morgan..the point of this is for readers who don't want to comment, they're only interested in reading the blog for some reason, and don't want to bother finding it or waiting for a url.

Caroline Clemmons and I began Sweethearts of the West group blog last September, and right away, a woman I know in North Texas e-mailed me and asked if she could get a subscription to it so it would come to her each time--every other day.
I found the email gadget on blogger then, and it was easy. I did like you did--I subscribed to it myself, and yes, each post comes to me by Yahoo mail and there it is--photos and everything. I don't know if we have any other subscibers or not...don't know how to check.

She likes our blog because it's the historical West and romance...and we have lots of photos and "western-y" blogs. So far, it's been very popular.
Celia

Morgan Mandel said...

Actually, I follow tons of blogs, but don't always get around to going over to read them.

The email feature is a handy way of reminding me to read a blog I really want to keep up with.

Yes, it could clutter our mailbox, and mine is way too cluttered, but it's probably a good feature if you're in a hurry most of the time, you really like a blog and want to keep up with it.

Morgan Mandel

Unknown said...

Interesting post, Morgan, but I have to admit that with the RSS feed (to which over 200 have subbed on my blog), I don't really see the need. Only very few people who visit directly comment, so I'm not concerned about the number I get. The thought of adding anymore emails to my already bulging in-box makes me shudder.

Morgan Mandel said...

True, Ginger, but why not use everything you can? It may not be for everyone, but can bring in some that like it.

I like the idea of choice.

Morgan Mandel
http://morganmandel.blogspot.com
http://facebook.com/morgan.mandel

Terry Odell said...

I have enough email as it is, even on digest. I use the Follow function and can scroll through post headers and the first few lines on my Blogger Dashboard--which takes me long enough as it is!


Terry
Terry's Place
Romance with a Twist--of Mystery

Morgan Mandel said...

From what I hear so far from comments, it sounds like this Gadget may be useful for readers who don't get a lot of email. I'm sure there are some out there.

Morgan

Maggie Toussaint said...

Sounds like this is a great boon for some folks and a nightmare for others. I'm trying to pare down the mail coming over my threshhold these days, but that means I miss a lot of stuff.

There never seems to be a happy medium, does there?

Maggie Toussaint

Judith Leger said...

Very interesting, Morgan but I have to agree with Maggie on it being a nightmare and/or blessing to some. Not sure if I would like it.

Marilyn Meredith a.k.a. F. M. Meredith said...

Oh, I've jumped on it. We'll see what happens. You can always take it off.

Marilyn

Mona Risk said...

I receive one blog by email. It's good as I immediately read it and leave a comment. I wouldn't mind receiving blogs that appear once a week by emails. This way I wouldn't forget them, but blogs that changed several times a week would provide too many extra emails to my cluttered box.
www.monarisk.com

Pauline said...

I like the function a lot. Not everyone wants to use RSS to keep track of blogs. It isn't so much about how you, the blogger feels about the notification, but how the blog reader feels about it. As Morgan points out, all options are good policy for a blogger. IMHO.

SD said...

Good post!

Does this gadget reflects how many followers and who are they with their email ids?

It sends the entire post or excerpt, and can we control this sending option - entire post or excerpt?

Thanks!

Swapan Das
http://placentrex.blogspot.com/

Anonymous said...

Hi, I am using this, but how will i know the number of subscribers who followed me through email. Is there a way to know the number of followers who followed through email like a counter? Thx by the way here is my blog www.pcmsoft.blogspot.com

xlpharmacy said...

It is a very useful application, now you can follow your activity and others activities more easily.

Unknown said...

We've had this gadget set up for some time, but no one is receiving their emails. In trouble-shooting, I'm seeing dozens of reports from other users of the same problem, but no answers. We've gone to FeedBurner and checked out all the connections and technically, everything is fine, but no emails are getting through. If anyone knows what to do, please let us know.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for sharing. I was searching for this kind of blogger gadget.Simple and awesome subscribe box.Thank you admin !
website design