Here seems to be the solution why Google Friend Connect seems to work in one browser and not another.
In fact it has nothing to do with any browser, it has to do with WordPress and how browsers interpret and compile JavaScript. We finally narrowed it down to not the browser but the Wordpress version.
It seems this only occurs on WordPress blogs and is a matter of a WordPress file called prototype.js not being compatible with Google Friend Connect JSON code. prototype.js (JavaScript file) is essential for WordPress sites to work correctly.
This is why I have no problems here on my Google Wave site or any of my other sites. They are all older installs of WordPress.
From Google themselves it of course is a JavaScript error and Google Friend Connect should work after this code addition before the gadget code in WordPress.
Right click the textarea above, then “Select all, next right click the highlighted code and select “Copy” and paste the code into your WordPress file just above the Google Friend Connect gadget code. Problem solved, or so we believe.
Usually it will be the sidebar.php file that creates your WordPress sidebar that you will be editing. If you are not familiar with HTML make a back up of the file in Notepad first.
Let us know if this worked for you in the comments….
Hope this helps and your feedback on this will help us all. Let us all know if this fixed your problems on your WordPress blog. Also if you are having this problem and your site is not a WordPress blog let us know that too.
26 Comments
Would love to know how to add more friends to google friend connect.
@Scott Bowling,
Two things come to mind immediately.
First your GFC gadget is below the fold on most computers, especially on widescreen type laptops.
The below the fold point has risen a lot lately with the proliferation of wide screen monitors and this is especially relevant on new laptops built to display DVDs full screen.
If you want more GFC members then you need to raise the gadget on your side bar. Also use the GFC bar on your site too. I use both here.
Second, you just don’t have enough traffic. Yahoo shows you only have 51 incoming links and most of your blog posts have no comments.
That tells me your main problem is a lack of traffic. Since your incoming link number is so low I would go and a link building campaign.
For me that would be writing guest blog posts. I got most of my guest blog posts published by first commenting highly on high traffic blogs and demonstrating my knowledge on a very targeted subject.
Previously that was social bookmarking for me. I cast over 52,000 comments in 6 months last year (2008). That brought me 6 major guest blog post spots. That built my list and built my traffic.
But most of all the first thing I would do is move the GFC gadget above the fold and add the GFC bar. That should definitely bring you more GFC members and friends.
Thanks Chris! I’m not sure how you get me information before “I” even know I need it, but I just got my blog up on WP and wanted to put a GFC gadget on it. You truly are a “nostradamus”.
=)
Thanks Steven, glad I could help!
Chris you are the master of investigative research and reporting and you give your results away to your faithful readers.
For people new to a Chris Lang blog, or new to Chris Lang, my advice (free with no commission) is to sign up to follow Chris Lang.
I get most of my best social networking tips from Chris. You are one of the hardest workers on the net.
Thanks!
Rocque
It wasn’t a WordPress Blog, it was a phpGedView Genealogy web site that wasn’t working. Thanks to your little addition it is working just fine for me now!
Thanks again,
Robert
Awesome Robert, one down how many to go?
Feel free to link to the site that now works so we have some documentation that this is finally the proper fix.
Also we may well want to join your now working Google Friend Connect Gadget!
It does not work for me
( I tried to add the code for GFC Newsletter on the text widget, but it does not work, does anyone know why? 
(
My site: http://www.fernandafranca.com.br/blog
The GFC painel (with members) is OK, ’cause I used a specific widget for it, but I cannot add the Newletter code. Help me ;o)
Thankss!!!!!!
Fernanda.
@Fernanda França,
This code above is specifically for the members gadget or the social bar that is not appearing.
The newsletter issue is another story all together. I will be doing a chapter for my members site later this week so I will be able to solve your problem in the future.
- Chris
Thanks Chris that fixed the problem I was having. I tried for two hours the other night to get my GFC widget to work glad this fix came along. Your a freakin’ Genius.
BTW I had a sneaking suspicion it was something java script related. Too bad I don’t know as much about Java as I should.
Thanks, Chris!!!
I’ll come back to see the new post. I think this will help many people. Thanks in advance.
Fernanda.
Hi Chris,
I’ve used the code above like it was suggested early on. Still GFC won’t work. My site is created with a CMS sytem. It should be more easy to create a site but i haven’t got full control of all the HTML placement. The webmaster assured me that all the necessary changes, still no succes what sovever I’ve posted this bug on several sites where GFC mentioned. Hope i might look in to it.
Thanks any way
Kindest regards, Peter from Amsterdam
Trawling around unable to find an answer to this question: wondered if anyone reading this might…all my Google Friend Connect gadgets work fine except that the sign in is not remembered beyond the page on which the user signs in. Sign in works fine, but navigate to a different page on the site and it requires sign in again. Any ideas anyone? I tried the code above in case that helped but the social bar breaks with that code.
thx for the solution, worked perfectly. u are the best. i added it right before the google code in my text widget.
No joy for me unfortunately. WP has a lot to answer for – right now Sky ISPs can’t see any WP images – graaaagh!
I was trying everything to add the friend connect gadget to my site. I did a search and ran across your site.
This helped and everything is working well.
I had just about given up on getting this to work, and then found your site. Thank you! It works perfectly now.
Appears to have worked perfectly! I couldn’t figure out why I was seeing the widget on Flock, but not Firefox or Chrome! Excellent solution.
Tanks! Obrigado!
Agora funcionou!
It is working ok now. Thanks much for your help.
Claudio aka @_cmom_
Chris, I am at a loss for words. Nothing seems to work. I recently migrated from Blogger to WP premium theme (Genesis) and it worked for the first couple of days. I did add Ad Rotator plug-in after that time, but it was already not working when I did. I did remove AR, but did not uninstall. Most of the time it doesn’t show up for me at all, but in the last couple of days it does. BUT, not for the majority of my readers. I thought that it might be a browser issue, which would suck anyway, but it doesn’t seem to be the case. When it wasn’t working for me, sometimes (not all times) clearning cookies and the cache made it reappear. Sometimes the box is empty, sometimes it is there but the “follow” button is not appearing. My blog was quickly and steadily growing followers until this started and has stagnated at 221 for over a week. At the rate it was going, it should be up to 500 by now. That’s how unfortunate this is. I get emails daily about the issue, and am afraid my readers will eventually leave. Help! Please email me a response, as I can’t always get on the atual internet with 2 little kiddos but get emails on the phone. THANK YOU!
@Kite Koop – When I went to the blog you linked to I got this error;
Fatal error: Call to undefined function is_multisite() in /home/thevil16/public_html/wp-includes/wp-db.php on line 505
That has nothing to do with Google Friend Connect. That is a PHP error generated by WordPress.
That means it is a plug in causing the error, WP itself, or the theme.
When you add plugins to WP, they can add code to the theme. Take the plugin out, the code calling the plugin “throws an error” as it is called in programming.
My solution, uninstall the plugin, reinstall the theme.
Also Google Friend Connect is based on your Domain, you can’t move GFC from Blogger to a domain with out a few hickups.
And you can’t move the GFC code from one domain to another, it has to lie on the domain you added it to, to begin with.
Thank you, works for me
THANK YOU!!! I have been trying to get GFC to work on my blog for a few months now and couldn’t get it to work. I found your post and decided to give it a try. It works perfectly now. Thanks so much.
hmmmm, it still doesn’t work on my blog. I still get a bunch of html. Only thing the code above adds is a horisontal line
according to Wordpress the problem is that they strip out the javascript due to security reasons: http://en.forums.wordpress.com/topic/adding-google-friend-connect-2?replies=2
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