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Monday, November 29, 2010

Your Bloglines service is here to stay!



Dear Bloglines Users,


You probably already know that MerchantCircle has entered into an agreement with Ask.com to keep Bloglines running…


What you may not know is who we are. Well, here's the mini elevator pitch: MerchantCircle is the largest online network of local business owners, combining social networking features with free marketing tools to connect local business owners with their communities. MerchantCircle’s 1.4 million business owners and hundreds of thousands of consumers engage in our Community Forums, posting blogs about their areas of expertise, and asking and answering questions in MerchantCircle Answers.


We've been around since 2005, and with over 20 million business listings on our network- you can trust that we're not going anywhere- and neither is your Bloglines service. In fact, we're pretty excited to introduce this fantastic service to our current user base of merchants.


Our game plan is to bring you the best technology, with an easy transition, and avert the potential frustrations that can come with change. This does mean making some tough decisions, but our goal remains: Keep Bloglines alive and create the best experience possible for the largest number of users. 


Beginning around December 1st, when you log in to your Bloglines account (using your same id and password), you'll be transitioned to the NEW Bloglines experience. We'll be providing complete details on the almost-automatic migration process in which you'll just port your feeds over to the MerchantCircle-powered service.


 And no, it won't be IDENTICAL to the old Bloglines experience. We are going to provide better, more stable reader technology, with a wider range of user features, but some minimally used features in need of expensive updates didn't make the cut. Instead, we've included some helpful new resources that you didn't have before; and we'll continue to incorporate as many features as possible. Our own CEO has been an avid Bloglines user since 2005! He too wants the best, most familiar Blogline experience possible.


A perfectly smooth transition is ideal. But we do know it's a safe bet to expect a few bumps in the road. Should that happen, we apologize in advance and assure you that we'll be addressing any issues with a sense of urgency. We welcome your feedback and encourage you to reach out on Twitter. (@Bloglines)


Keep an eye out for future communication as we get closer to the big changeover day. We look forward to serving you!


Your MerchantCircle/Bloglines Team














21 comments:

  1. Bravo! Fantastic! Delighted!
    I'm amazed ask.com was willing to part with a ground-breaking service platform like bloglines.
    Why do they think this is outdated? While in some markets this service may seem a little dated, for the vast majority of Internet users, bloglines service is still ahead of the curve. It led the way for igoogle, myyahoo, and a host of other services to be formed.
    I've been using bloglines for over 10 years, and still counting. There's just too much out there I want to keep track of.

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  2. Wow, that is great news. I had reluctantly moved to a much less usable service. Thank you for the early Christmas present

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  3. Looking forward to the new Bloglines. Tried GR and it did not have the clean layout of Bloglines, so keep that, and it will be a keeper.
    David in Wichita

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  4. THANK YOU! I'm so happy. I love Bloglines and have been so sad about it closing down.

    I've tried other readers and they just don't compare, so it's been frustrating.

    Hearing the news that you're keeping it going is music to my ears. THANK YOU!! Looking forward to tomorrow!

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  5. You've got your work cut out for you. As a long-time Bloglines user I've been happily using Google Reader since Bloglines announced it was closing its doors.

    I'd be happy to come back, but not to the same Bloglines. You've got to make the experience significantly better, including: less downtime, the ability to read individual blog items on a feed without Bloglines marking as read every post in that feed, and excellent mobile apps.

    Good luck!

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  6. I hope that this "better, more stable reader technology, with a wider range of user features" does not mean a javascript-laden, slow piece of rubbish like the Google Reader is. I always liked Bloglines the most because it was fast and did not take its toll on older machine.

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  7. Thanks, MerchantCircle! I love Bloglines and am really happy you all saved it! I'm looking forward to using the "new" service!

    Cheers!

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  8. How do I delete my Bloglines account?

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  9. really useful and interesting and promising beginning. My Bloglines was used for years and I hope the next mariage will be as well useful.

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  10. Elizabeth Jansen van VuurenNovember 30, 2010 at 7:18 PM

    THANK YOU! I was forced to move to Google Reader with its messy, ugly interface. Delighted that my home page will once again say 'Bloglines'. The only thing I did like about GR is the screen showing all latest entries, handy when in a hurry.

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  11. I hope it is based on the Beta Version of Bloglines, but stable.

    The Beta version was superior.

    I look forward to using Bloglines again if it is similar to this version.

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  12. As others have mentioned, I also tried an alternate service (GR) with less than satisfatory results. I much prefer the clean, fast UI used by Bloglines and I hope you will continue using it.

    Bill

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  13. Thank you, thank you, thank you! I follow at least eighty blogs and have been having an awful time with Google Reader. It is cumbersome and difficult to read.
    I was thrilled to learn that you are saving this wonderful tool.

    Dr. Andrea

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  14. Great stuff this is brilliant news!

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  15. I moved my feeds to Netvibes when I heard Bloglines is going down. I'm not sure I'm coming back, but I'll check out the new Bloglines once it's online.

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  16. We appreciate that you are looking out for the little guy

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  17. That sounds so great. I am so happy that blog line is still alive. I am looking forward in using the new service.

    Keep up the good work BLOGLINES!


    http://www.freshdeals.com.au

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  18. Wow. This is great and fantastic. I love blogline so much and this news really made up my day. Thank you.

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