It’s still absolutely shocking to me that so few people know of RSS, much less use it on a daily basis.Agreed, Greg.
Onwards to the actual blog post: since this follow option is only available on Google-owned Blogger and only works if you already have a Blogger or Google account, I wonder if it’s really going to catch on at blog platforms Web-wide. (Though I suppose most everyone has a Google/gmail acount.)
As often as I give oily HJs to Google, I don’t think that their Reader product is as revolutionary as, say Gmail was in ‘04 or their search, maps and mobile products continue to be. (The failure of Gmail to evolve in the last year or so, and the failure of many of their other products to live up to impossibly high standard of Google branding is another topic.)
Reader isn’t bad, but I prefer Netvibes, despite some of its own flaws.
As far as the “Follow this blog feature” … Seing as how Google is a solid year behind this product (Tumblr), I will probably wait for these geniuses to make it possible to follow Wordpress and Blogger blogs in my dashboard.