Do you use Google Plus?

~ beetleypete

I have had a Google+ account for a long time now, ever since I started blogging in fact. I use it to promote my blog posts to a different audience, and I also follow the Google+ accounts of some people who only use that platform. It has another very useful feature, as it allows me to ‘sign in’ and comment on other platforms, like ‘Blogger’. It can also be used on some commercial websites, saving me the chore of creating additional accounts, and new passwords. All in all, it is quite handy.

So naturally, Google is about to close it down.

They cite ‘lack of use’ as the reason for scrapping it, and we don’t get a say in that of course. As well as no longer being able to use the features it provides, it will also mean that every comment I have made using it will no longer exist, and any images I have added there will be deleted too, unless I trawl through and back them all up. When Google decides to ‘clean house’, it doesn’t mess about. So if you didn’t know about this imminent demise on the 2nd of April, here is the email confirmation I received this morning. Let’s hope that Gmail isn’t next for the chopping block.

You’ve received this email because you have a consumer (personal) Google+ account or you manage a Google+ page.

In December 2018, we announced our decision to shut down Google+ for consumers in April 2019 due to low usage and challenges involved in maintaining a successful product that meets consumers’ expectations. We want to thank you for being part of Google+ and provide next steps, including how to download your photos and other content.

On April 2nd, your Google+ account and any Google+ pages you created will be shut down and we will begin deleting content from consumer Google+ accounts. Photos and videos from Google+ in your Album Archive and your Google+ pages will also be deleted. You can download and save your content, just make sure to do so before April. Note that photos and videos backed up in Google Photos will not be deleted.

The process of deleting content from consumer Google+ accounts, Google+ Pages, and Album Archive will take a few months, and content may remain through this time. For example, users may still see parts of their Google+ account via activity log and some consumer Google+ content may remain visible to G Suite users until consumer Google+ is deleted.

As early as February 4th, you will no longer be able to create new Google+ profiles, pages, communities or events.

See the full FAQ for more details and updates leading up to the shutdown.

If you’re a Google+ Community owner or moderator, you may download and save your data for your Google+ Community. Starting early March 2019, additional data will be available for download, including author, body, and photos for every community post in a public community. Learn more

If you sign in to sites and apps using the Google+ Sign-in button, these buttons will stop working in the coming weeks but in some cases may be replaced by a Google Sign-in button. You’ll still be able to sign in with your Google Account wherever you see Google Sign-in buttons. Learn more

If you’ve used Google+ for comments on your own or other sites, this feature will be removed from Blogger by February 4th and other sites by March 7th. All your Google+ comments on all sites will be deleted starting April 2, 2019. Learn more

If you’re a G Suite customer, Google+ for your G Suite account should remain active. Contact your G Suite administrator for more details. You can also expect a new look and new features soon. Learn more

If you’re a developer using Google+ APIs or Google+ Sign-in, click here to see how this will impact you.

From all of us on the Google+ team, thank you for making Google+ such a special place. We are grateful for the talented group of artists, community builders, and thought leaders who made Google+ their home. It would not have been the same without your passion and dedication.

66 thoughts on “Do you use Google Plus?”

  1. My blog is connected to it and I repost through it but I have never actually used it much. I think it bombed for Google. They just couldn’t compete with other social networks that were already more established, like Facebook, LinkedIn and even Tumblr.

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    1. Yes, business users who pay will not lose those accounts. But as you say, what is the point of keeping them, if nobody can see them, except other businesses? I won’t use Facebook, as I think it is actually EVIL! 🙂
      Best wishes, Pete.

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    1. I think most casual users (like me) didn’t use it a great deal. But rather than just shut it down, they could have made it more user-friendly, instead of penalising everyone. Oh well, it will be gone soon. 😦
      Best wishes, Pete.

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    1. Very true. At least I have all my photos backed up on a portable hard drive. But this blog is too huge to even think about backing it up. I can only hope that WordPress doesn’t go the way of Google+ 😦
      Best wishes, Pete.

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  7. I received the email, too, but to be honest I won’t miss Google+. I never really saw the point in it and rarely used it. I think many of its members felt the same as I do. It wasn’t very user friendly. Although, having said that, I suspect a lot of people signed up without really knowing what they were signing on for or why. My husband has had lots of his customers calling him in a panic because they received the email and thought their gmail accounts were being closed!

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      1. I used to share a blog on Blogger and my sign-in seems to be still active. I’m liking Twitter more than I did at first. When I first signed up I rarely used it, completely thrown by the number of tweets that appeared minute by minute. I share my blog posts on LinkedIn but apart from that I only use Facebook and Twitter. More than enough to waste huge amounts of time!

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  11. Not all change is progress. In this case, it would appear, progress is the changing profit structure (or cost) for a firm. However, an Internet firm does have some responsibilities given the services it has gotten its users accustomed (adicted) to.Not all change is progress. In this case, it would appear, progress is the changing profit structure (or cost) for a firm. However, an Internet firm does have some responsibilities given the services it has gotten its users accustomed (addicted) to using on a daily basis. If they were responsible they would grandfather in users and continue with a shell to service those accounts. I used to think this was just an American Corporation greed issue, now I understand it is a worldwide Corporation greed issue.
    Warmest regards, Theo

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  13. Pete,

    I received that email yesterday as well. As a web designer, creating Google+ accounts was an important step in getting into Google’s top search. The same was true with creating a blog on Blogger.

    I was not surprised to see it disappear. It was somewhat cumbersome for most and people did not use it well. What did surprise me was the short notice. I fully believe Google+ benefited Google more than it did its members.

    And here we are….

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    1. Thanks for that insight, Maggie. As I mentioned, I will mainly miss the one-click sign on. I have never tried to get into those top searches, but have noticed that my blog features on a few of them. 🙂
      Best wishes, Pete.

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  14. I never used it. I’ve never even clicked on the icon until now. There were my blog posts. Interesting. Well, as long as Google cloud doesn’t dissipate and take with it all my pictures and documents. Like you, it’s a false sense of security.
    I remember when my computer crashed unexpectedly and I lost a decade of pictures. That stung. So I have been trying to upload my favorite pictures as a safety net against my computer. Honestly, I should be old fashioned and have my favorites printed in a tangible form.
    But then the house would burn down.

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    1. I bought a Buffalo portable hard drive. It has 500gb storage, and is the size of a cellphone. I always transfer all my photos onto that, from the files on the PC. Of course, there’s no guarantee that it won’t also fail at some stage. 🙂
      Google+ was more useful to me as a single sign-in. I will probably have to create some new usernames and passwords now.
      Best wishes, Pete. x

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        1. It’s not the products. Apple make amazing products. I just don’t like their exclusivity, employment policy, and pricing structure. Considering they use something near ‘slave-labour’ in China, their profits are obscene.

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    1. It’s not you, nor the others who never use it. I think it has more to do with them wanting to charge more for business users who pay, and they will probably develop the ‘professional’ aspects accordingly. I just can’t see why they couldn’t have left us the single sign-on option. Meanies! 🙂
      Best wishes, Pete.

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  17. That’s sad. Good thing I don’t use Google Plus. I remember when Multiply closed down and I had so many things saved there including my earlier blog from October 2007 up to the time it was closed. Music videos, CDs uploaded and lots and lots of photos. My brother was the one who paid my Premium acct. for the year. Had a hard time copying more than 1,000 photos and saving them, sme on FB and Photobuckets.

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    1. Luckily, almost all of the photos I have on Google+ are also in my photo library, and on WordPress too.I am not about to spend all that time trying to back up the stuff on Google+ though. 🙂
      Best wishes, Pete.

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  18. At one time I must have created a google account on Youtube to save certain channels, but I never used it nor Google plus. Sorry about the loss of all the comments and images, Pete. How annoying.

    Another thing though; a year ago we went prime with WordPress because we needed more storage space. Included was also a domain name without wordpress.com etc etc, so we changed the name from toffeefee.wordpress to fabfourblog.com. Surprise: recently WP announced a change in their policy. As from now, they charge $18 for the domain on top of the annual fee for the prime account. Beware!

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    1. I have heard about this change, Dina. When I upgraded to the ‘Personal Plan’, it stated that the domain name was included ‘FOR THE FIRST YEAR’. I noticed that section, so presumed there would be a charge later on. I have noticed a big increase in views, since becoming dot com though. More than a 25% increase since the weeks before the change. But although views and followers have gone up significantly, regular comments are still from the same members of the community, in the main.
      Love from Beetley, Pete and Ollie. X

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    1. The old ‘if it ain’t broke don’t fix it’ thing again, Marina. I have no doubt they will return with a ‘new and improved’ version that we would have to pay for. 😦
      Best wishes, Pete.

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  20. I hate Google….I have a g-mail amount and everyday. I get a message when I try to log on…”something is wrong we cannot connect with Google……I have sent several messages that state…YOU ARE GOOGLE why cannot you connect with yourself……I hate Google….sorry for the rant….

    Short answer is no I do use Google +…..chuq

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    1. I changed to Gmail from Yahoo. Believe me, it is a lot more stable as an email provider, and much better than Hotmail and Yahoo Mail. I also use the Chrome browser, as it works much faster than MS options, and also has no advertising. So I don’t hate Google, but they have annoyed me bty removing that single sign-on feature. 🙂
      Best wishes, Pete.

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    1. I have it set up to promote the blog posts, and use the sign-on facility a lot, Peggy. I just don’t like to see platforms disappear, as it generally predicts larger changes on the Internet as a whole.
      Best wishes, Pete.

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  23. I had a Google plus account but I didn’t use it much. It was not a social media I really enjoyed or found easy to use. I have not posted anything to that site since all the announcements about the breech of security last year so I won’t miss it.

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  24. Yes, I got that one, and I did panic for a moment, thinking it meant I’d have to move all my Google Drive docs. I must admit I’m one of the members that don’t use Google+. I probably filled in the profile info because I use Google Drive – a lot – and my default browser is Chrome. It isn’t that easy to distinguish whether you’re signing into the Drive or the community.
    But I’m not much of a social media person – life’s too short. I only visit Facebook to communicate with my kids – it’s less intrusive than a phone call and they seem to check Facebook more often than their phone texts.
    So I won’t miss Google +… But it does leave the other social media options with fewer rivals, which is probably not a Good Thing.
    C’est la vie – as you say, us mortals get little say whatever their reasons, once the decision is made.

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    1. Thanks for your thoughts, Cathy. I only really use it for a sign-on, and promoting blog posts. I also use Chrome, as it is the fastest browser for me. But I don’t like to see things just getting ‘cancelled’, as it always makes me wonder what will be next to go. 🙂
      Best wishes, Pete.

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