Google+ Social Network Shutting Down on April 2, 2019

UPDATE 2: Google+ will shut down on April 2, 2019.

UPDATE 1: Google+ will now shut down in April 2019. Read official announcement here.

SUMMARY: Google has decided to shut down its popular social networking website Google+ (Google Plus) in August 2019.

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Facebook, Twitter and Google+ are very popular social networking websites on Internet. If you have a Gmail account, you might be most probably using Google+ social network in your computer or mobile phone.

Google launched Google+ service in 2011. Initially it was an invitation only service and users were required an invitation to sign up for the service. Later the service was made available to everyone. Many Gmail account holders signed for the new social network website. Google+ received mixed feedback. Many people liked the new platform and its clean UI and many people were not able to switch to the new service from previous social networking services such as Facebook.

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Now you might be wondering why suddenly Google decided to close Google+ social network? Here is the answer:

Why Google is shutting down Google+ social networking website?

First important thing to know! Google+ will be shut down for consumers only. It’ll remain available for enterprises. According to Google, Google+ is better suited as an enterprise product and the company will keep Google+ service available for enterprise customers.

Second thing Google+ service will shut down by the end of August 2019. So there are approx. 10 months remaining in Google+ shut down.

Now let’s discuss the reason behind Google+ shut down. According to Google, Google+ has low usage and engagement. About 90 percent of Google+ user sessions are less than five seconds. It has not achieved broad consumer or developer adoption, and has limited user interaction with apps.

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Google also discovered a bug in one of the Google+ People APIs. The bug caused 3rd party apps to get access to user profile fields that were shared with the user, but not marked as public. This data was limited to static, optional Google+ profile fields including name, email address, occupation, gender and age. It didn’t include any other data you may have posted or connected to Google+ or any other service, like Google+ posts, messages, Google account data, phone numbers or G Suite content. According to Google analysis, the profiles of up to 500,000 Google+ accounts were potentially affected and up to 438 applications may have used this API.

Don’t worry. Google found no evidence that any developer was aware of this bug, or abusing the API, and they found no evidence that any profile data was misused. Google discovered and immediately patched this bug in March 2018.

After this incident, Google realized the significant challenges in creating and maintaining a successful Google+ service that meets consumers’ expectations. Given these challenges and the very low usage of the consumer version of Google+, Google decided to close/retire the consumer version of Google+.

What should you do now?

Nothing. Keep using Google+ service if you wish. The service will be closed in August 2019. In coming days, Google will provide ways to Google+ users to download and migrate their data.

UPDATE: [Tip] How to Download Google+ Account Data, Photos and Videos

What do you think about this unexpected and surprising move? Do you use Google+ network? Feel free to share your opinion in comments.

Also Check:

How to Close or Delete Your Email or Social Network Accounts Permanently?

Published in: Mobiles and Internet

About the author: Vishal Gupta (also known as VG) has been awarded with Microsoft MVP (Most Valuable Professional) award. He holds Masters degree in Computer Applications (MCA). He has written several tech articles for popular newspapers and magazines and has also appeared in tech shows on various TV channels.

Comments

NOTE: Older comments have been removed to reduce database overhead.

  1. I hope google change is mind beacause i was with faqcebook and i choose g+ for the way he publish there a lot of info and the peoples are great and respectual it s a place to have in fo without false news it a places you can trust beacause the people in the back of g+ make a good job!!!!

  2. why didnt you tell me that google+ has a bug and why are you guys shutting it down shutting it down is pointless dont you think you Just update it in 2019 of August

  3. It’s a great news…. I wish it stop very soon ….. It’s totally boring and full of fake people there … I’m very happy finally it’s close …. Please google it’s stop it very soon as early as possible….. Thanks for great news ……

  4. I really doubt this one. This could be a brilliant April Fools day joke of course… which is what I suspect… But okay, it could be for real and that’s a shame, because it is a great alternative for Facebook, which I am not actively using anymore for a few years. I Love the nice and clean platform that Google+ provides. With a little improvement it could be a huge success. Make it a little better, more like Tumblr for example. On the other hand no need for that. It works just nice and isn’t as addictive as other big social media platforms. We will see what happens…

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