No, on FindPenguins your friends and family do not need to create an account. They can read your articles and view your photos by simply opening the link to your trip (if the trip’s privacy setting is set to “Followers only”, share a private link).
Without creating an account, your friends and family need to manually open your link, to check if there is a new post or new comment. There are no automatic notifications.
Only to become an active follower of your profile, a FindPenguins account needs to be created. The user then has to click on the “Follow” button on your profile. This request must be accepted by you.
Confirmed followers will be notified about new posts, comments and more. They can see trips that are visible to “Followers only” even without the private link.
These advanced features technically and legally require an account, but they are entirely optional.