We got this from The Google People via the Google Buzz:
"Over time, we’ve seen that most people sign into Friend Connect with a Google Account. So, in an effort to streamline, in the next few weeks we’ll be making some changes that will eventually require readers to have a Google Account to sign into Friend Connect and follow blogs."
"As part of this plan, starting the week of January 11, we’ll remove the ability for people with Twitter, Yahoo, Orkut or other OpenId providers to sign in to Google Friend Connect and follow blogs. At the same time, we’ll remove non-Google Account profiles so you may see a decrease in your blog follower count."
"We encourage you to tell affected readers (perhaps via a blog post), that if they use a non-Google Account to follow your blog, they need to sign up for a Google Account, and re-follow your blog. With a Google Account, they’ll get blogs added to their Reading List, making it easier for them to see the latest posts and activity of the blogs they follow."
"We know how important followers are to all bloggers, but we believe this change will improve the experience for both you and your readers."
So, we hope this does improve things...we're a little skeptical, but of course don't have any say in it. We'd love to keep you all around and we enjoy your comments. This community is fun!! So, if you have a non-Google account but want to still be able to comment on the blog and officially follow it, you might want to head over and get a google account set up!
