Feedburner stats drop after Google account merge

Published by in blogs, web 2.0 on January 23rd, 2009

Last night I logged into Feedburner and heeded the site’s recommendation to “update” my account by merging it to use the standard Google authentication scheme. I probably should have done more background reading first. Back in September, Alex Chitu described some of the problems others have had with the Google-Feedburner marriage. This evening I glanced at my Feedburner chicklet subscriber stats, and noticed they have dropped BIG time.

Feedburner stats drop after Google login merge

I don’t think this is an actual reduction in subscribers, I think this is attributable to some plumbing errors on Google and Feedburner’s parts. [SIGH] Of course these numbers COULD be accurate, perhaps my last podcast about Storychaser dreams offended lots of folks. (I don’t see how it could, however!)

My recommendation for others at this point: Hold off on the “recommended” Feedburner to Google login migration. It doesn’t look like “they” have the bugs worked out in this process yet.

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14 Comments »
  • http://www.downes.ca Stephen Downes

    It could also be that your old stats were inflated.

  • http://freetech4teachers.com Richard Byrne

    You’re not alone in your experience. After I moved my feed last weekend my subscriber count went from 2100+ to roughly 700. There are people all over the blog-o-sphere complaining about the Google/FeedBurner merge.
    It seems that most people are still receiving updates through my RSS feeds, but the analytic numbers are way off. Have you also noticed that item use and unique use numbers are not reporting accurately?

    Richard

  • http://www.digmo.co.uk David

    I am seeing the same thing and have noticed the value is the same for the last week or so. I just hope readers are getting the content. I’m tempted to not use the service as to lose so many users in one go is a little concerning.

  • http://digitalaudioinsider.blogspot.com/ David Harrell

    I think it’s an across-the-board problem. I didn’t merge my account, but the Feedburner stats for my blog dropped by more than 50% this week…

  • http://beth.typepad.com Beth Kanter

    Yes, it is an across the board problem. I didn’t move mine yet. And, this is nothing new – it’s been happenning off and one for months now … someone told me that it had to do with them dropping the counts of RSS subscribers from different readers, netvibes, I think.

    http://beth.typepad.com/beths_blog/2009/01/whats-up-with-feedburner.html

  • http://robneville.net Rob

    I’ve had the exact same problem man…it ain’t just you.

  • http://michelemartin.typepad.com/thebambooprojectblog/ Michele Martin

    Same problem for me, too, Wes, although this morning I see that my stats are back up where they were before the migration so maybe it’s something that happens at the beginning. Although I do have to agree with Stephen that it all makes me question the accuracy of ANY stats I get via Feedburner.

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  • http://cellphonesinlearning.com Liz Kolb

    Wes
    I had the same thing happen when I converted, but after 48 hours they seemed to be “normal”—although I still have high fluctuation (50+ one day and 50- the next???). My analytics also went nutty for a few days…not sure if there is a correlation there?

  • http://www.wesfryer.com Wesley Fryer

    As observed by Liz and others, it does seem the stats have returned to “normal.” Yes, Stephen, they certainly could be inflated! Coupled with my ClustrMap statistics and server hit stats, however, I’m doubtful they are. In any event, I’m glad to have made this transition. Google’s march to take over many aspects of the web continues, eh?

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  • http://www.techchee.com ketyung

    Yeah, mine also dropped 50% after just migrating over to Google today. But I’ve heard it shall be back to normal after a week ???

  • http://www.wesfryer.com Wesley Fryer

    Yes, things did return to “normal” after a few days. I should have just waited and been patient!

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