Are you one of the 350,000,000 people who read blogs?  Maybe you are an author of a blog?  If you post on one out of approximately 200,000,000 blogs on the internet, how are you going to find followers?   Now you can through Facebook.

For Readers / Followers

If you would like an easy way to keep up with reading your favorite blogs, you might like to try the  Facebook app,  Networked Blogs.  (Click here if you are currently logged in to Facebook.)  Networked Blogs acts like an aggregator within Facebook so you have all your reading available in one spot.  You can subscribe to blogs and also comment, share, tweet, and “like”, all from Networked Blogs.

If your Facebook friends are bloggers and using the Networked Blogs application, you can read their blogs from your Networked Blogs app.  Click on “Friends” to find their blogs.

Networked Blogs will not send posts to your Facebook news feed unless you are a friend of the blogger or a fan of the blog’s fan page.  You’ll be using Networked Blogs like a reader, so go to the application and click on “Home” to see all the recent posts from the blogs you follow.  You can then scroll through and read selections from your news feed.  You will discover your friends’ blogs and also what other blogs your friends are reading as well.

For Bloggers

If you are already blogging, Networked Blogs can help so that more people are reading your posts.  First, you will need to add your blog to the directory.  Then you can choose different settings to have your blog appear as a thumbnail on your Facebook profile and to show up in your friends’ news feeds automatically when you post.  Networked Blogs also has a setting so you can auto-post to Twitter.

Networked Blogs also offers a “widget” to display on your blog where your friends and new followers can sign up to follow your blog through Facebook.   (If you use wordpress.com, you will use a “badge” instead, like the one in the right sidebar of this blog.)   If your followers vote on a post, their picture will show next to that post in Networked Blogs and then other people  might choose to follow your blog as well.

Networked Blogs is like a reader, so your fans on Networked Blogs (that is, followers only, not friends) can go to your blog’s feed in Networked Blogs and read your posts there. (In my experience, it’s likely they are not doing this unless they are really into blogging and readers.)  Your posts do not go to your fans’ Facebook feed on their home pages unless they are also friends. . . or following you through a fan page.

If you want to have a Facebook fan page for your blog, it is easy to do and would reach more people.  You can set Networked Blogs up so your posts appear automatically on the fan page and then you don’t have to continually post on there.   Those who join your blog’s fan page would then get a notice of your posts on their Facebook home news feed, too.  If you are logged in to Facebook right now you can see what the e4e fan page looks like as an example.

I’ve really appreciated Networked Blogs.  When I publish a post on WordPress.com, my post automatically appears:

• in my Twitter account,
• on my Facebook wall,
• in my friends’ news feeds,
• on my blog’s Facebook fan page,
• in the feeds of my followers of the Facebook fan page,
• on the blog’s home page within Networked Blogs.

Are you on Networked Blogs?  Add a link to your profile or to your blog’s main page in the comments.  To get us started, here’s my Networked Blogs profile listing all my blogs: Sus Schmitt

NOTE: You can use Networked Blogs or Twitter Feed to connect your blog, Twitter, and/or Facebook accounts.  If you don’t have a blog, you can just feed your Tweets to Facebook using either one.

• If you are logged into Facebook, this link will guide you through all the steps for Networked Blogs.
• Read about Leaha’s experience with Twitter Feed.