There’s now a plug-in for self hosted WordPress.org users that adds the social features of Google Friend Connect to WordPress.org blogs. The plug-in is available on the Google Code site.
What the plugin does is allows visitors to authenticate using any OpenID account (Google, Yahoo, or AIM) and then comment on posts. When a visitor authenticates, it automatically creates a WordPress account. After a visitor posts content or comments on a post, the information will appear in the Google Friend Connect activity stream. The plugin features (colors, size, labels, etc.) can also be customized to suit.
A tip of the hat to Chris Crum for sharing this news.
This connect feature is a status symbol for many bloggers!
Off topic: This is why I am wary of moving to self hosting! http://www.snaphow.com/a-very-painful-tragic-incident-for-snaphow-blog/
This tech guy lost 900 posts and site down for one week [DreamHost; though Dreamhost are good people]. Blame him too; he never backed up! :(
Although our web hosts do have back-ups catastrophe’s can happen. That’s why I back-up my blogs by exporting contents regularly. My web hasting package contains a backup facility found in the cpanel contents too. There are other methods one can also use to back-up found in this post Disaster Planning: Backups for Bloggers.