Is there a way to see how many subscribers a blog has?

[nicole.healthline]

If a blog is not advertising its total number of subscribers, is there a way to find out how many subscribers they have?

[john4math]

If they have an RSS feed, I think you can look it up in Google Reader.  Go to Google Reader, click "Explore" in the left nav, click Search, and enter criteria to find the blog.  It'll show you the subscription numbers for that blog.  If you have URL for the RSS feed, you can add that subscription to your reader account, click on it in the left nav, and then in the upper right hand corner, click the "Show details" link to see the number of subscribers.

According to this, this is only Google Reader subscribers, not all subscribers.  Google Reader is pretty popular, so this is probably a fairly good share of the entire pool of subscribers.

[john4math]

Oh, and I just came across this http://www.sabahan.com/2007/08/06/find-out-how-many-subscribers-a-blog-has-even-when-its-feedcount-is-hidden/... if they're using FeedBurner, and if the blog owner has the FeedCount activated in his FeedBurner account, you'll be able to view the actual number by following the instructions given there.  The article is a bit old so I'm not sure if it'll work; I didn't try it myself.