Google & Feedburner - The Good & Bad

Match Made In Hell?

In many ways I am a Google fan, I use their search primarily, I use Adwords, Adsense, have their toolbar installed, couldn't live without Gmail, and I am trying my best to not get sucked into 200 feeds in Google Reader.
I am also a FeedBurner Fan, I have a paid subscription to their "Total Stats", and have developed a few simple Feedflares.

Unfortunately I am not overly enthusiastic about Google buying FeedBurner for a number of very serious reasons.

1. Slow Development - I don't expect faster development of features above integration with Google's existing services. For me that is worrying especially as someone who publishes commercial content.


2. Legal Compliance - I have been custom feed flare, but that is a graphic easily stripped by people abusing your content. Then again most of the Blogospere seemed to think a few months ago that haven't been fixed for months, such as the ability to have a "clean" link within a feedflare unit.


3. Squashing Competition - FeedBurner haven't got a huge amount of direct competiton, but certainly Blogkits, and Pay Per Post will likely offer advertising for email subscribers.

   Whilst both Feedburner and Feedvertising seem to think that Techcrunch is displaying Ads from their network, it seems to me blogs on Feedburner.
   

4. Poor Support - Google's support unfortunately isn't the greatest, especially when they suggest responding in "Google Groups" from their blog.
   
   Here are 2 very specific examples
   
   
   • Disclosure with Referral Units - Google made a clarification to their very important question

     But what if I want to recommend the product, but feel it's unethical
     to do so without telling my readers that I'm getting paid for it:

     "Click this button, it's a really cool product (full disclosure: I
     receive a commission of $2 if you follow this link)"

     For me this is a case of deja vu, because I was raising the same questions about the Google Toolbar Buttons Group, and no help is forthcoming.

     Whilst Feedburner support is currently better than Google's, I can't see their support improving if they are acquired.
     

     Fractured Lines of Communication - Feedburner are currently proactive in monitoring the blogosphere, and reacting by giving feedback - whilst I am sure Google monitor blogs heavily, unless you are a high traffic blog it is very rare to get any feedback

     What I write today probably won't make the slightest bit of difference to whether a purchase is made, or the eventual outcome. I am not a gadget blog with 600K+ subscribers - this won't be an

     Suggest a Correction

     Found an error or have a suggestion? Let us know and we'll review it.

     Your Name *

     Your Email *

     Correction Details *

     Submit Correction