If that does happens anywhere in the near future, it will have a huge impact on the Bloggers, especially those who are popular enough, having a huge subscriber list. I was also contacted a lot about this question.
Well actually the answer is maybe yes or maybe no. Google has been slowly discontinuing services related to FeedBurner from the past 15-16 months. FeedBurner is actually the very first name that comes in the mind of every blogger when asked for an absolutely free email subscription service. But it seems that this is gonna change soon enough. Today I present you some facts which I think clearly indicate that the future of FeedBurner is not that bright.
1. FeedBurner API Deprecated
FeedBurner API was deprecated more than a year ago and has now completely shut down on October 20, 2012. The shutting down of API doesn't directly affect the main FeedBurner service, though some WordPress plugins and other software which used FeedBurner API will stop working. FeedBurner API was in service for over six years but this won't really effect the bloggers. This just shows that Google is not showing much interest in FeedBurner now.
2. FeedBurner Japanese (.jp) Domain Expired
Google failed to renew the Japanese domain of FeedBurner, at the end of July 2012. All the Japanese users who were using FeedBurner service from that domain lost all of their subscribers, metrics, audience and everything. If this move was intentional, then the worse thing is that there was no prior notice or warning of any kind. Google actually does warn almost a year ago before shutting down any service and even if it was accidental, Google is never so irresponsible. But now the domain is owned by someone named Satoshi MITO and it has been parked. There isn't any word yet by Google for the reason of expiration or maybe they just don't bother about that domain. We don't know if they are even trying to get back that domain.
3. FeedBurner Subscriber Count Zero Problem
You all may be familiar with this recent problem that all the FeedBurner subscriber count was showing zero. The problem was solved but it took around a week to solve it. This shows how much Google is paying attention to FeedBurner now.
4. FeedBurner Blog & Twitter Account Discontinued
Also after the Japanese domain expired, the official FeedBurner blog and Twitter account was also discontinued on July 26th, 2012 stating a goodbye message. The fact is that they both were discontinued near to the same day when the Japanese domain expired. We can somewhat or maybe completely sure that there are not gonna be any new features or updates in FeedBurner now.
5. No Support anymore
The contact link of FeedBurner redirects to the login page or My Feeds page and since their Blog and Twitter account being signed off, the only remaining option for FeedBurner's users was the FeedBurner Help Forum which now again is not watched or monitored anymore by any Google employee.
6. AdSense for Feeds Shutdown
The latest buzz is that AdSense for feeds has shutdown as well, in the first week of December 2012. Although any blogger can find out an alternative for this and this shutting down of Adsense for feeds doesn't really affect the Bloggers much, but it is mentioned here as it is also another strong factor to consider that Google isn't showing any interest in FeedBurner now.
Conclusion:
The above facts show a deep possibility that the future of FeedBurner is not that much bright enough. But I want to know that:- What do you think?
- Is FeedBurner really gonna close?
- We pray it doesn't shutdown but if it does, how big the impact will be on your blog?
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