Blogger is rolling out a new Follower widget which will allow readers to follow my blog, thus building community around it. It will appear in the dashboard, and I will be able to browse my followers, check out what blogs they write, and see who else they follow. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had a really awesome comment from someone but but could not return the favor because their blog profile was private. Presumably, if those people like my blog and follow it, that would be implicitly giving me permission to know who they are. Obviously, I can then follow them back, and serendipitously follow any other cool blogs I come across in my online travels.

I’ll be able to put a widget on the sidebar showing off my community and promoting my blog to new visitors who might want to follow.

Back in my dashboard, there will be an RSS reading list of the latest posts from all the blogs I follow, and yes, it links up with my Google Reader. (Here’s what it’s all about from the Google Reader point of view.)

And coming soon, an add-on with Google’s Friend Connect…

Top of the game, methinks!