RIP Google+: Firm officially shuts down its failed social media network today

RIP Google+: Firm officially shuts down its failed social media network today and begins to wipe users’ content from the site

  • Google on Tuesday began the process of deleting all posts from Google+ users
  • The firm decided to ‘sunset’ the ill-fated site after two data breaches last year
  • User activity had plummeted, with most sessions lasting less than five seconds
  • Google+ first launched in 2011 as the firm sought to rival tech giant Facebook 

Google’s ill-fated social network has officially met its demise. 

Starting today, the search giant is beginning the process of deleting all user content uploaded to Google+, making good on its promise last December to shut down the site. 

While Google+ had amassed millions of users, very few of them were actually posting on the site, causing it to gradually fade into obscurity over the ensuing years since its launch.

 

Starting today, the search giant is beginning the process of deleting all user content uploaded to Google+, making good on its promise last December to shut down the site 

WHAT WAS GOOGLE+? 

Google+ launched in 2011 as the advertising giant grew more concerned about competition from Facebook, which could pinpoint ads to users based on data they had shared about their friends, likes and online activity.

Google+ copied Facebook with status updates and news feeds and let people organize their groups of friends into what it calls ‘circles.’

But Google+ and the company’s other experiments with social media struggled to win over users because of complicated features and privacy mishaps.

Facebook introduced a feature that allowed users to connect their accounts with their profiles on dating, music and other apps.

Google followed suit, letting outside developers access some Google+ data with users’ permission.  

As of today, if users visit the Google+ website, they’ll see a slightly depressing notice: ‘Google+ is no longer available for consumer (personal) and brand accounts. 

‘From all of us on the Google+ team, thank you for making Google+ such a special place,’ it continues. 

The future of Google+ appeared grim when the firm announced last October that a bug had exposed the data of 500,000 users. 

Google also knew about the breach long before it disclosed it publicly. 

The final nail in the coffin came months later, when Google revealed that a separate breach exposed the personal data of 52.5 million users. 

As a result, Google said it would shut down Google+ much earlier than expected. 

Enterprise Google+ accounts will continue to live on despite the firm sunsetting the site’s consumer version, however. 

On top of the recent breaches, the firm cited ‘very low usage of the consumer version of Google+,’ as another catalyst for the decision. 

Personal Google+ pages have been shut down as of today, while Google begins the process of deleting content from Google+ accounts.   

While Google+ had amassed millions of users, very few of them were actually posting on the site, causing it to gradually fade into obscurity over the ensuing years since its launch

While Google+ had amassed millions of users, very few of them were actually posting on the site, causing it to gradually fade into obscurity over the ensuing years since its launch

This includes any photos or videos uploaded to the Google+ archives, as well as any other Google+ content like comments.

The firm posted a notice in January instructing users to back up their Google+ data before it began deleting accounts. 

Google had stopped the creation of new Google+ profiles on February 4th. 

Prior to the site’s demise, Google had repeatedly tried to draw users to Google+.  

Google attempted to boost engagement by linking YouTube and Google Play reviews with users Google+ accounts, but many became annoyed by this feature. 

Over the years, Google+’s waning popularity caused the firm to pull back from its integration with the service. 

Google used to require users to login with their Google+ account for services like YouTube and others, but by 2015, that was no longer required. 

Fast forward to 2019 and the site had largely become a ghost town aside from a dwindling base of loyal users. 

Case in point: Approximately 90 percent of Google+ user sessions were less than five seconds, Ben Smith, Google’s vice president of engineering, said in a blog post last October. 

‘While our engineering teams have put a lot of effort and dedication into building Google+ over the years, it has not achieved broad consumer or developer adoption, and has seen limited user interaction with apps,’ Smith added.     

Simply put, the firm realized Google+ never stood a chance against the likes of Facebook or Twitter, which have established a foothold among social media users around the world. 

With its end, Google+ has joined the ranks of Google’s other failed social networks, which include the now-defunct Orkut, Buzz and Wave.   

Read more at DailyMail.co.uk