Google Plus was an also-ran social network from its start in June 2011. Tech analysts and journalists wrote obituaries for it years ago and then ignored it as it limped along on life support. (Google stylizes the name as Google+.)
Google decided to end the service after an embarrassing data privacy breach was exposed by the Wall Street Journal.
About two years ago, Google pivoted Google Plus to be more like Pinterest, an online place to share interesting photos and articles. The strategy shift was a way to differentiate it from Facebook.
I created Google Plus Collections on several subjects and amassed hundreds of followers. My collection for robotics news attracted 664 followers. I also had collections related to halls of fame (636 followers), pop star Rihanna (396), post-apocalyptic fiction (113) and fairytale artwork (105). They’ll all be deleted once Google sunsets the service by the end of August 2019.
A consistent theme in my blog posts over the years has been the lack of permanency on the web. Things on the internet can be here today and gone tomorrow. Often it’s individual news articles and sometimes its whole websites and services.
Add Google Plus to the latter.
Even without the data breach, Google was destined to kill Google Plus because of its low usage.
It makes me wonder. Which consumer websites will be next to bite the dust?
Related articles:
Google+ is a dud (Sept. 16, 2011)
Google Plus Collections: An interesting pivot (Nov. 27, 2016)
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