Google+ as of April 2014

I occasionally log into my Facebook account, but I don't check Google+ nor Twitter. ToledoTalk.com is enough "social networking" for me.

Excerpts from http://techcrunch.com/2014/04/24/google-is-walking-dead/

What we’re hearing from multiple sources is that Google+ will no longer be considered a product, but a platform — essentially ending its competition with other social networks like Facebook and Twitter.

A Google representative has vehemently denied these claims. “Today’s news has no impact on our Google+ strategy — we have an incredibly talented team that will continue to build great user experiences across Google+, Hangouts and Photos.”

According to two sources, Google has apparently been reshuffling the teams that used to form the core of Google+, a group numbering between 1,000 and 1,200 employees. We hear that there’s a new building on campus, so many of those people are getting moved physically, as well — not necessarily due to Gundotra’s departure.

As part of these staff changes, the Google Hangouts team will be moving to the Android team, and it’s likely that the photos team will follow, these people said. Basically, talent will be shifting away from the Google+ kingdom and towards Android as a platform, we’re hearing.

It’s not clear, according to our sources’ intel, where the rest of the employees will go, but the assumption is that Larry Page will follow Mark Zuckerberg’s lead at Facebook and send the bulk of them to mobile roles.

This would telegraph a major acceleration of mobile efforts in general, rather than G+. The teams will apparently be building “widgets,” which take advantage of Google+ as a platform, rather than a focus on G+ as its own integral product.

We’ve heard that the acquisition of WhatsApp by Facebook may have been a factor in the phasing out of Gundotra’s grand experiment. There was a perception that Google had missed the “biggest acquisition in the social space.” Though another source tells us that Google knew what was up with WhatsApp but simply didn’t want to pay out for it.

In the long run, the issues with Google+ didn’t especially stem from the design of the product itself, but more from the way it interjected itself into your day-to-day Google experience like some unwelcome hairy spider.

Excerpts from Apr 24, 2014 story http://marketingland.com/happen-google-really-kill-google-81587

Rumors are that Google might be planning to kill Google+ or at least put it into a Walking Dead-like “zombie” mode, as TechCrunch characterizes it — and something Google denies. There are some good reasons for Google to do this, and potentially, it could allow Google to better fight on the new social battlefield, that of single-purpose social apps. Let’s play out the scenario to imagine what might happen.

Google Denies Plans To Kill Google+

For its part, Google tells us flat out that there are no such plans. Here’s the statement that Marketing Land was sent from a Google spokesperson:

Today’s announcement has no impact on our Google+ strategy — we have an incredibly talented team that will continue to build great user experiences across Google+, Hangouts and Photos.

The New Social Battlefield: Single-Purpose Apps

Indeed, the real worry for Facebook has been people leaving it for single-purpose social apps, like Instagram or WhatsApp — which also explains Facebook’s purchasing of those.

In addition, Facebook’s also busy breaking itself down into component apps. As Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg recently told Farhad Manjoo of the New York Times:

What we’re doing with Creative Labs is basically unbundling the big blue app.

And:

In mobile, there’s a big premium on creating single-purpose, first-class experiences.

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