3 possibilities why FriendFeed is dropped from your FeedBurner Stats Counter

December 27, 2009 - Last Modified: December 27, 2009 by Hesham Zebida

Maybe you have notice the big drop in our FeedBurner stats counter since the last a few days, and maybe you are suffering from the same problem and wondering why this happened! This number went down from 518 subscribers to only 78 which is the real number of our feed subscribers, this happen because FriendFeed is dropped from FeedBurner stats counter, I am going to tell you why I am not feeling so bad about it and what are the possible reasons for this drop.

Why FriendFeed is dropped from FeedBurner stats counter?

There more than one possible explanation for this, but I am not really sure of the real reason behind this drop, but I will take you through some possibilities and the final decision is completely yours!

But first let me show you this image where you can see the stats curve of our blog FeedBurner subscribers, and you can see that the drop was on the 24 of December 2009. The green curve shows the number of our feed subscribers.

I found that our friend Brandon (like almost all of us) is a little disappointed from loosing around 2000 on his stats, but also he is accepting it in a good way, and I really like when he said that the challenge is even stronger to grow his blog’s real readership. So.. After publishing this post I am going a head to ask Brandon why he think that the counter will not return back the 2000 to his counter, maybe he knows what we don’t know!

There is another possibility here, we know that Google owns FeedBurner, and some people think that Google wants to get the accurate and real number of blog feed subscribers to calculate and update blog PageRank, maybe also it will be working again after the PageRank updating process ends (plz tell if you know what’s happening here!)

The third possibility is this is just a temporary thing because of Christmas and Holidays time, and everybody is OFF these days, maybe some of you has notice some changes in the stats counter number before, these changes sometimes are major and you probably lost some part of your stats before and it came back after one or two days. Some other changes were minor, this happened to me all the time when I notice a little change in the stats counter number, like when it drop only 3 or 4 of the subscribers, and it always return back to the normal expected number after a few days.

Is there any official explanation for this issue from FeedBurner?

Yes! there is a useful post that has an official explanation for this issue by Rick Klau (Feedburner’s Vice President of Publisher Services), it’s on Darren’s blog, it’s an old post back to August 2007 but I think you might like to read it as it’s the most close thing I found for our case here.

Is your FeedBurner stats counter embarrassing you?

In my personal opinion, it’s very important to show your visitors some stats of your blog, this makes them feel what’s really going on on your blog, how much people like it and how much you are honest about information you are providing to them.

My advice to you is to let the world see how you are growing and how you are making it, actually nothing is better than real stats, I won’t be shy to show my FeedBurner stats even if it has a low number of subscribers and I won’t think it’s embarrassing at all as some blogger will might think! But of course there is nothing wrong if the high number come back 😉

How I feel about it?

Oh! I can talk a lot about my feelings and express to everybody how I am satisfied with my stats count now, I was feeling great when our blog was showing 518 subscribers, but believe it or not, I really feel more comfortable now more than ever.

What is your expectation? Is he feed counter will be back? Or it will disappear for ever from our feed stats counter?

I wish you all happy Holidays, and thanks to everyone subscribed to our Famous Bloggers RSS feed.

About Hesham Zebida

Follow @hishaman

I create websites with WordPress, and I develop Schema Plugins to help SEOs. I am a social network lover. I am also the night creature who works hard to keep this project up. Owner and founder of the Famous Blog.

{ 62 Responses }

Danielle says:

I have to say that I was so upset when I opened up my page and I looked at my feed and it dropped from 527 to 111 in one day. I don't know what happened but it took some really hard work to get my stats up and now they are gone. I know that I can get them up again but I hate having to start over it just doesn't really seem all that fair. I guess it could possibly have something to do with my migration over to WP from Blogger but I followed all the steps to move my feed but hey I guess you can't sweat the small stuff.
- Hesham says:
  
  Hi Danielle, This has nothing to do with migration to WP, it could be a feedburner glitch and maybe your old stats will come back soon!
Dennis Edell says:

Why would any legit blogger want to show fake stats anyway? .-= Dennis Edell´s last blog ..Again - Pick My New Domain Names With A chance To Win $10! =-.
- Hesham says:
  
  To get advertisers attention!
  - Dennis Edell says:
    
    Since I like you, I'm going to assume you read my comment too fast before you responded... No LEGIT blogger would fake stats, ESPECIALLY for advertisers. ;) .-= Dennis Edell´s last blog ..Again - Pick My New Domain Names With A chance To Win $10! =-.
    - Hesham says:
      
      Yes.. you are right, I didn't read it at all LOL!
- Ari Herzog says:
  
  It's the quality vs quantity debate. Showing any metrics, real or fake, is the quantity side. I stand on the quality side which is why I don't post my subscriber numbers other than references here or there. .-= Ari Herzog´s last blog ..Why Simple Words Work Best =-.
  - Dennis Edell says:
    
    My point being, faking is for failures, period. It will destroy reputations when found out (when, not if) and simply not good practice...nothing wrong with showing real numbers. .-= Dennis Edell´s last blog ..UPDATED - ONE MORE DAY & MORE DOMAINS! Again - Pick My New Domain Names With A chance To Win $10! =-.
Shane says:

Hesham, can I marry you. Oh wait you are married and so am I...hmmm. Then can I be your protege'? You kick booty and are always right on the edge of everything that is going on. I love this blog. .-= Shane´s last blog ..What You Should Know About Food Additives and Your Kids =-.
- Hesham says:
  
  Hey Shane, I think this is you visit here, and Ah! to marry again.. this is out of my hands ;) nice to see you here, keep in touch as there is so many thing coming on the way!
Uttoran Sen says:

i do not display the feed counter in numbers, haven't checked it in a long time... also did not knew that friendfeed was affecting so much in terms of subscriber count, though there are other ways to jack up the numbers, its not all that trustable... .-= Uttoran Sen´s last blog ..2010 Plans – Big Dreams =-.
- Hesham says:
  
  FriendFeed is the biggest trick to increase the counter, and you are right there is some other way to do it as well!
Ching Ya says:

Interesting. I have no idea regarding this matter although I did hear someone mentioning earlier about FriendFeed being calculated in feed stats. Good to know. At least we can now have an honest number how many subscribers we actually have. Will keep an eye and hopefully it's not just a Christmas/new year glitch. :-) Happy holidays! @wchingya Social/Blogging Tracker .-= Ching Ya´s last blog ..How to Brand Your Tweets with TweetBrand =-.
- Ching Ya says:
  
  Ah.. I noticed your feed stats returned to 534. So meaning FriendFeed is been added again? .-= Ching Ya´s last blog ..How to Brand Your Tweets with TweetBrand =-.
  - Hesham says:
    
    Yes. Yes... It's the Holidays! I maybe will leave it for a few days (just for some time while people are checking the post), and then I will remove it completly and for ever ;)
    - Deepika says:
      
      @Hesham Now all blog are with their old feedcounter numbers. Eagerly came here to check it.. Yeah you blog too attained the count as before... :D Are you happy friend? .-= Deepika´s last blog ..Importance Of Guest Blogging =-.
      - Hesham says:
        
        LOL! well.. not really, I am going to remove it from the counter soon ;) .-= Hesham´s last blog ..I am NOT a Famous Blogger =-.
Typhoon says:

From my sources, I have come to know that Friendfeed stats are now again included in Feedburner. So I think you may update this post again :) .-= Typhoon´s last blog ..How to Profit with Google Wonder Wheel =-.
- Hesham says:
  
  LOL! it was only a Holiday issue, the beauty of this post, that it works for all times Typhone, I don't need to edit it or anything! maybe you didn't read the The third possibility! Some people will jump happy because of that, thanks for the information and the updated news ;)
chandan says:

So it is happening to all, yes I also experienced the same. My blog subscriber was 170, but suddenly It decreases to 121, I also ask question about it on DP, but no get any answer. well now I understand that it is something other problem. Can you please explain me why subscriber increase when We make a new post? Frankly speaking I am no so clear about feed subscription. .-= chandan´s last blog ..How to build link by linkbaiting strategy =-.
- Hesham says:
  
  After you publish a new post, you promote it, so people visit your blog, they like what you have wrote, and they want to know what you are going to post about next time! so they subscribe to you feed by email or feed reader to follow up with your new posts!
  - chandan says:
    
    Thank you, but I know it. when I made new post the subscriber increase instantly and again if I not post for some days Its again decrease, so why it happen? .-= chandan´s last blog ..How to build link by linkbaiting strategy =-.
    - Hesham says:
      
      Simply if you stop posting some of your subscribers may unsubscribe, because you are not active on your blog, I really don't understand what exactly you understand and what you don't understand :)
Benin says:

Hesham, I'm glad you posted this. I noticed the drop too yesterday. Thought there was just something that Feed Burner didn't like about my FriendFeed count or something. As for reasons that this may have happened I like what you said about Google wanting to get a more accurate blog Page Rank. Thanks for the post!
- Hesham says:
  
  Actually I am with this idea as well, but let's see what will happen latter! thanks for your time Benin!
  - Benin says:
    
    Mine just went back up as well. But I see what you mean though on getting a more accurate subscriber count. Thanks!
ConnieFoggles says:

Maybe I shouldn't post this comment because I'll end up jinxing myself, but on 2 of the blogs that I keep track of my subsribers, my RSS feed has remained about the same. I'm not sure why. I do agree that FriendFeed subscribers do increase your RSS subscribers, but it sure did go for my ego! .-= ConnieFoggles´s last blog ..Belated Merry Christmas =-.
- Hesham says:
  
  You must be so lucky Connie ;) mmm or maybe it's cashed!
Anthony Feint says:

I noticed a fairly big drop too - but the thing is, since FriendFeed was acquired by Facebook, the community has died and there is very little interaction on my posts any more. So this number really was false and I'm glad I now have something more accurate to work with. .-= Anthony Feint´s last blog ..6 Ways to Boost Your Energy =-.
- Hesham says:
  
  When it's about telling the truth to your blog readers, then I prefer it naked ;) There is nothing better than naked truth specially when it's about your blog Anthony, always share the true information with your blog readers! Thanks a lot for sharing your story!
Gem says:

I also noticed the huge drop in all my blogs that are connected to my Friendfeed account. I am more concerned about losing a few subscribers than losing dozens, because I know these people "honestly" decided not to read my posts further. Losing dozens of subscribers mean there's something wrong with the system somewhere, and I am confident I don't just get to suddenly lose subscribers in just one day! .-= Gem´s last blog ..Mid-afternoon Snack with the LunchBreakBlogger =-.
- Hesham says:
  
  There is tow ways to subscribe to feeds, some people use a stand-alone feed reader and some others are using a web-based feed reader, that means losing a few of your subscribers doesn't mean you lost them for sure, because maybe they are just turn off their computers in the weekend or something and they are not fetching your feeds!
  - Gem says:
    
    Right, I know about those tons of ways - I also noticed that submitting feeds to online sites also count as subscriptions. However, I strongly don't believe that turning off the computer has nothing to do with losing the subscribers. .-= Gem´s last blog ..Mid-afternoon Snack with the LunchBreakBlogger =-.
Dragon Blogger says:

BTW, What plug-in do you use for comments, or is that part of the theme which numbers them, and shows your replies in a separate shaded box? I like how it looks. .-= Dragon Blogger´s last blog ..FeedBurner Drops FriendFeed As Blog Subscribers =-.
- Hesham says:
  
  I am using the WP Thread Comment plugin, but the number next to the commenter image is generated from them Thesis theme I guess!
Dragon Blogger says:

Anytime, I heard about this first from your site so gave you the credit. Also, you are right. I understand people wanting to "fluff" up their site appearance to advertisers and other readers, to get them to advertise and read. It is a promotion tactic, but in the end it can risk hurting your reputation.
- Hesham says:
  
  Exactly, it will hurt blog reputation because these advertisers are not that stupid! but you know?! you have just inspired me to write what I think is going to be an excellent post, it's something happened to me on the first month of starting this blog, I will share this on a new post when it's ready, thanks a lot for the great discussion here! you rocks.
Kikolani says:

I removed my Feedburner chicklet a long time ago due to its instability. One day I would have hundreds of subscribers, and the next day none. One day I even had a negative number. It seems a lot more stable since Google took it over, and while the Friendfeed count is nice, I'm still happy with my regular subscriber count. .-= Kikolani´s last blog ..Fetching Friday - Resources Mashup, Old City Bar & Happy Holidays =-.
- Hesham says:
  
  This is the first time I hear about the negative number on the counter, mmm is this to decide who is not reading the blog or what LOL! I agree that with Google the stats counter is going to be more stable, and I am more convinced that regular subscribers count is the best thing to show on our counters!
Will says:

Hi Hesham, Interesting stufff - and I have to say that I'm completely with DragonBlogger hoping that it stays off. I actually removed the Feedburner chicklet from my blog a couple of months ago because to me it seemed misleading ( at the very least) to appear to have well over 1,000 readers when almost all of them were non-readers through Friend Feed. Now that a more honest 42 shows up on my chicklet, I feel happy to add it again ! Christmas Cheers Will .-= Will´s last blog ..Brianwave – The Alexa Ranking Contest =-.
- Hesham says:
  
  I also know that even if this number we have now is accurate, but it's not 100% accurate as there is some of the subscriptions that still count on the stats counter comes from applications and website that aggregate your feed, maybe some of us would like to keep silence about that one LOL! I just didn't write about it because this post it dealing with FriendFeed ;)
Greg Ellison says:

I also noticed it. For me it dropped around the 24th. I was searching for reason but didn't find one. It just means people need to work hard to get more subscribers to your aweber list and feedburner list. Greg Ellison .-= Greg Ellison´s last blog ..Make your blog mobile phone accessible =-.
- Hesham says:
  
  I actually all the time try to find out what our blog readers are looking for and post it for them, I try to answer the questions in their minds, I try to do this fast as well, as I realized that the best we can do is the write useful and interesting content to get more subscribers, and of course there is some other tricky ways like forcing your visitors to subscribe to get a freebie download or something!
Deepika says:

Hi Hesham, Really i was looking for this answer from 24th... Suddenly i noticed in many of my favourite(including famousbloggers) blogs feedburner count decreased... I was searching answer for this... Glad to see you came with the answer... all three points are agreeable.. All we need is not just a subscriber, we need readers who read our articles.. So let us be happy with our real readers... As you said if the counts returns to high number , me too will be happy :D .-= Deepika´s last blog ..SEO – True Story =-.
- Hesham says:
  
  You really hit the right point, we need readers and we need them to feel safe with us as well and trust what we write on our blogs. I see that you have a very interesting seo guest post on your blog!
  - Deepika says:
    
    @hesham which one do you like? current feedburner count or the past one? Happy to hear that you liked that guest post... .-= Deepika´s last blog ..Importance Of Guest Blogging =-.
    - Hesham says:
      
      Actually I feel comfort with the real count, I think I don't have to show what's not real to our readers!
Holly Jahangiri says:

My stats aren't "embarrassing" to me, because I've never really paid that much attention to them. But now that I have a little counter there, I find myself obsessively refreshing just to see if it will change! LOL - maybe I should write a blog post on my weirdly useless, slightly OCD, competitive streak. The same impulse drives me to check my word count every five minutes during NaNoWriMo. Actually, I think it's the Dopamine... Wanna give me a thrill? Go to my blog. Under "Subscribe by Email," enter yours. Click Subscribe. Make those little numbers climb. That'll just fascinate me for DAYS... ;) .-= Holly Jahangiri´s last blog ..Crazy Candymaking! =-.
- Hesham says:
  
  How do you think that I am not subsribed to your Feed? I am already subsribed since I don't know when ;)
  - Holly Jahangiri says:
    
    I know YOU are - you're one of the EIGHT people (including me - how pathetic is THAT?) who are. ;) One of the first of those eight, I should add. The "you" in this case is collective and refers to everyone ELSE reading this, Hesham.
Dragon Blogger says:

I hope it stays off, by showing your FriendFeed subscribers it is inaccurate and makes it look like those people are readers of your blog. FriendFeed subscribers are no more subscribers to your blog than Twitter followers. They should not be counted as blog readers, since they may not even ever visit your blog, just be your "friend" on FriendFeed. .-= Dragon Blogger´s last blog ..Free Link Popularity Check Tool =-.
- Hesham says:
  
  that's completely true and I agree with you, but you know Justin, before I was kind of crazy want to show my blog more perfect than it is, but now I am more satisfied with the real stuff, maybe because I understand that there is nothing better than being honest with your self and your readers! Thanks you so much for mentioning this post on your blog, it gives me a great feeling this morning ;)
Heather Kephart says:

Very thoughtful article, Hesham. I like your positivity! I noticed the change the other day only because I recently discovered that FriendFeed subscribers show as Feedburner subscribers. I'd always wondered how some blogs displayed massive readerships! It would be nice if we were all using the same methods of comparison to see how we stack up compared to others, but that will never happen. There will always be tricks, and there will always be people in the know, and people in the dark. However, I think what is real and true is always better than an illusion. (But I'm still going to wear black pants.) .-= Heather Kephart´s last blog ..Zombie Attack Imminent! =-.
- Hesham says:
  
  Well, maybe no one will blame you for wearing a black pants! We have created this blog to en-light people and tell them the truth and try to help them out to know more about blogging and what they can do with their blogs! I hope that we can succeed in deliver this message!
lawmacs says:

I have notice this over the past couple of days did not pay much attention to this because i always focus more on the stats in feedburner dashboard i think this may have something to do more with accuracy more than anything else and there was an article telling about seeling subscribers by some website owners this may have some effect on this .-= lawmacs´s last blog ..Merry Christmas to You All =-.
- Hesham says:
  
  Thank you Lawmacs for sharing your opinion, mmm I know that subscribers can be sold at any time, even yahoo or msn accounts maybe will be sold by these companies one day ;)

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