Indeed, if Google+ has not been as successful as Google wished it had been, Google has no one to blame but themselves. The beta version of Google+ launched on June 28 2011 and proved to be very active. Indeed, to this day I have more followers on Google+ than any other social network (even Twitter). Google+ would continue to be a thriving social media platform for quite some time. Unfortunately, it seemed as if Google was intent on undermining the success of Google+.
Over time Google removed some very useful features from Google+. Ripples was a tool that allowed users to see how their posts had been reshared. It was quite useful for those concerned about the reach of their posts on Google+, and fun to play with for the rest of us. Hangouts on the Air was a live-streaming service. Unfortunately Google removed the feature from Google+ and gave it to YouTube. Even with these changes Google+ continued to be a very active and thriving social network.
Sadly, there would be changes in the management at Google+ and this would ultimately hurt G+ in the long run. Vic Gundotra, the executive who had been in charge of Google+ from its inception, left in 2014. It was on November 18 2015 that Google introduced "New Google+", which further deprived Google+ of much of its functionality. No longer did Google+ have an adequate means of curating one's own photos. I assume this was because Google wanted to force users to use Google Photos, which lacked many of the features Google+'s original photo management tools possessed. New Google+ also made it difficult to manage one's circles. For those who have never used Google+, circles are essentially lists into which users can organise people. Each circle has its own stream, making it easy to keep track of posts. Classic Google+ had a fairly efficient tool for organising circles, complete with a "drag-and-drop" interface. Sadly that sort of circle management was missing from New Google+. Now Google+ continued to prosper as long as Classic Google+ was available. Unfortunately on January 24 2017 Google forced New Google+ on all its users, even though it was clear the majority of their users preferred Classic Google+.
I see New Google+ as the first nail in the coffin of Google+. Once New Google+ was forced upon users, many of them deserted the social network platform. Those of us who remained posted less often. Quite simply, New Google+ was so inferior to Classic Google+ that one has to wonder if Google wasn't intentionally trying to kill Google+ by that point.
While Google+ is not nearly as active as it once was, I still think Google is being short-sighted in killing it.Indeed, G+ could become much thriving and active if they simply restored much of Classic G+'s functionality. For that matter, I don't think they have thought out the impact it might have on their other products. The only reason I ever used Google Photos was to post to Google+. Once Google+ goes dark I will no longer have any use for Google Photos. As a result, I will be uninstalling it from my phone. I have no reason to believe there aren't other users like me.
I will certainly miss Google+. Classic Google+ was my favourite social media platform. I enjoyed the conversations I had there, which were more sophisticated than most discussion on Twitter and especially on Facebook. I made many friends on G+, and many of them now number among the closest friends I have. What is more, my experience is not unique. I know of many G+ users who can say the same thing. To me that points to the possibility that Google+ could have been a real success if only Google had not constantly undermined its success.
No comments:
Post a Comment