Google released an update to the announcement it earlier made in December 2018 concerning shutting down its Social Media arm, Google+.
Google says its decision to shut down Google+ for consumers in April 2019 is due to low usage and challenges involved in maintaining a successful product that meets consumers’ expectations.
Google+ Shutdown will take place in stages:
As early as February 4th, 2019, you’ll no longer be able to create new Google+ profiles, pages, communities or events.
Starting early March 2019, additional data will be available for download, including author, body, and photos for every community post in a public community. This is strictly for Google+ community owner or moderator to download and save their data before the shutdown.
In the coming weeks, Google+ sign-in buttons will stop working. And in some cases may be replaced by a Google sign-in button. This is specifically for users who sign in to sites and apps using the Google+ sign-in button. However, you’ll still be able to sign in with your Google account wherever you see Google sign-in buttons.
For G Suite Customer, G+ for your G Suite account should remain active, with new look and features coming soon.
Then, on April 2, 2019, Google+ will finally join its ancestors and cease to exist.
Google+ was launched on 28 June 2011. Today, there are over 2.2 billion Google+ user profiles, out of which over 440 million are active monthly users.
G+ has been a great source of traffic to various websites. It’s seen as the second or third most reputable source of traffic on Social Media. 2/3 of renowned companies also have their presence on G+.
Well, perhaps Google+ running cost is not commensurate to the ROI, hence the shutdown.
Do you like the idea of shutting down G+, yes or no?
