End of Google Plus

Looking at these, you can tell that Google Buzz was leaning towards another Facebook type of Social media. For example, its focus was on making connections with friends worldwide and the fact that you have to add people too.

Why did Google Buzz fail?

Like the end of Google Plus, Google Buzz failed for many reasons. One reason was the resemblance to Facebook.  Now imagine if you were given an alternative but were the same with a leading social media platform. They didn’t have one prominent feature that made it somewhat better or at least different than Facebook, so why would the millions of people already on Facebook want to migrate onto this website? Why would you like to switch? The business insider made a great point, “if Google isn’t trying to kill Facebook with their new social media website, then what’s the reason for even making it at all?” they also mentioned how the home screen seems bland and lacks any imagination in it.

Another reason it failed was that it was forced onto users. Google did not try to lure or attract customers but was automatically assigned a Google Buzz account without their permission. This quickly made it a privacy nightmare, even in social media.

Legal issues

Google Buzz was seen as a significant invasion of privacy and had many legal actions taken against it. A Harvard Law school student filed a class-action lawsuit against Google, stating: “claiming that it severely compromised her and others’ privacy,  she signed into Gmail without realizing that, by doing so, she had unwittingly also signed up to be part of the new network.” Hence, an apparent reason why Google lost many customers.

Google Friend

Google friends connect to another social media website that Google created in 2008. This came out shortly after Facebook and Google attempted to make a social media website that would rival all other social media websites such as Facebook, Myspace, and Twitter. While it technically didn’t fail (the status of it was “suspended”).

It also incorporated a friend-connecting service. Google friends connect a blog posting type of website, letting those post whatever they want. Some more of the primary Google friend connections are:

• When active, the website owner sets their site’s language and then allows the user (via their Google Friend Connect account) to translate selected content into their specified language.
• Users often have multiple usernames and passwords if they register with more than one social networking site or third-party site. Social Networking Connect Services, such as Google Friend Connect, were intended to remove the need for multiple registrations by allowing links from a user’s account on a social networking site to their account on a third-party site.
• Users were able to personalize through gadgets. Gadgets such as ‘Interests’ allowed third-party sites to send out newsletters to those subscribed to the site and customize newsletters based on user responses.
• Google Friend Connect had an ‘AdSense’ feature that let Google advertise based on on-site content and the user interests that the user publicly shared.

Why was it deactivated?

1. Google figured that this website wouldn’t be as big as Facebook, so they came out with Google Plus and phased it out. “Approximately 200,000 websites are said to use Google Friend Connect, and 2889 of them are in the top million visited sites on the Internet. Google, however, estimated it had over 5 million sites using Friend Connect” based on statistics built with trends.

All in all, it technically didn’t fail. But as we know it, the end of Google Plus is imminent! Google slowly gave up on it and chose to go with Google Plus instead.

Orkut

Orkut was a website by Google made by Orkut Büyükkökten in late 2004 and was one of Google’s first good social media websites. It lasted ten years which is a long time by Google’s standards.

Features provided by Orkut:

• Add Friends
• Send scraps to people (Scrapbook) – These messages are visible to all.
• Send personal messages to each other
• Post videos
• Integrate G talk
• An option of liking each other`s activities
• Restricted and unrestricted community polls
• Customizing themes
• Becoming a fan of each other
• Rating your friends

While these features were enough to keep users entertained, catch up with friends, and overall be social, it seems to have lacked what Facebook offered. Facebook had better features and the same features but with an improved and better-looking user interface. A key reason why Okurt failed in late 2014. According to medium.com, there were a few main reasons, such as

1. Facebook was the main reason for Orkut’s failure.
2. Though redesigned several times, Orkut could not retain its user base.
3. The initial design of Orkut was much more straightforward and user-friendly. Later, things became just complicated to access.
4. The website loaded slowly compared to its rival, Facebook.
5. Facebook kept it as simple as possible for the user, so Orkut’s loss was Facebook’s gain.
6. Orkut never really tried to take up to revive itself.
7. Introducing Google Plus already meant the beginning of the end for Orkut.
8. Orkut should have been what Facebook is today, but somehow it lost its momentum and its grip over its users.

Following all these tries, Google seemed to have placed all its bets later on Google Plus. Now, here we are at the end of Google Plus. For many users, come April 2nd, 2019, will be a day of sadness and un-linking for a defunct social media platform.

Why the End of Google Plus

Google + was one of the social media platforms I’ve used, not because I wanted to have one but because it was forced on me. Every time I logged into my YouTube account, it instantly created a Google Plus account without my permission. One of the most annoying things was when your YouTube account would automatically link to your Google Plus, and it was not easy figuring out how to delete Google plus without deleting your YouTube. Facebook had already taken a clear lead, and Google Plus couldn’t play catch up! Also, according to Forbes, Google plus has had a 98% decline in engagement rate, year-over-year.

Google Plus features

I’m not going to lie; Google had some fantastic features, but not enough to make me sit down, understand how they would work, and ditch Facebook to go on Google Plus all the time. Here goes a list of some of Google Plus’s features:

• Circles, a core feature for Google+, enabled users to organize people into groups or lists for sharing. In the “Stream” on the home screen, they can see a post from certain circles and communities they joined. You can even compose your post or circle
• Hangouts, which lets users group call or group chat
• +1 button, which is equivalent to a like on Facebook.

There were many other features, but nothing groundbreaking compared to other social media platforms.

The end of Google Plus and some final say…

Personally, the end of Google is no surprise. The fact that Google tried to imitate other social media platforms did not help it leap ahead. Though Google Plus will come to an end, there are many other promising technologies Google shines in. Google’s 20 years have indeed allowed this technology firm to create an impact in many areas. For example, Google’s ranking algorithm and search engine technology to its Google Android. Even though the end of Google may be a surprise or a shock to some, Google will continue to make leaps in various innovative areas.

Google My Business

Overall, Google has many robust technologies, such as its Adword service, search engine directory, Google Duplex, Knowledge Panel, Google Trends, AMP, Google reviews, Google Home, and others. For businesses using Google My Business helps boost traffic.

No matter how small or big your business is, you should set up a Google My Business page!

More on Google Plus

GooglePlus is the official social networking platform of Google, one of the world’s largest and most powerful search engines.  It was launched in 2011 and is being used by over 540 million monthly active users of which 13% are U.S. small businesses.  With its growing user base, GooglePlus is an added social layer across many Google services such as Gmail, YouTube, Google Calendar, Google Maps, Android and of course, Search. GooglePlus is vitally important for SEO as content posted on GooglePlus pages are crawled and indexed much faster than on competitor sites and increases search rankings. Google Plus’s impact on search engine rankings gives businesses the opportunity to leverage their online marketing.  Some might think that Google Plus is similar to Facebook and Twitter and possibly on its way out, but let’s take a look at why GooglePlus is an important tool.

FaceBook and Others

Unlike the public nature of Facebook and Twitter, GooglePlus did let you set up circles of family, friends, office colleagues and people that you share a particular interest with.  Within the circles, you could choose who to share your content with.  This system replicated the way people interacted offline more closely than is the case in other social networks.  You could also create or join communities based on shared topics of interest that allow users to have ongoing conversations.

Google Plus was not just a platform for social sharing, it’s was an essential tool for any business with a social media marketing strategy. GooglePlus Pages allowed businesses to connect with clients and customers.  Organizations and companies could set up profiles or pages similar to Facebook pages where they can build relationships with prospects and customers on different levels.

High Google Ranking

Social sharing was positively correlated with high google rank as high-quality content tends to be shared more.  The more your content was shared the better the impacts search rankings had.  If someone was following you on GooglePlus, the chances that they will see your posts in Google’s search results increased. Even more, if someone shared your content in Google Plus in their network, all the people who are connected with the sharer would also see the content in Google Search.  This was powerful for businesses and digital marketing.

Features of GooglePlus

Several features that came with GooglePlus were widely used such as its photo-sharing features and Hangouts.  The photo auto-backup feature of GooglePlus, when activated, saved a copy of every photo you took on your mobile devices. GooglePlus had editing tools that let you easily crop, enhance or add creative adjustments.  Similar to Skype, Hangouts was a video chat, texting, and VoIP service.  Hangouts are now built into the Google Chrome browser.  Integration with your Google account lets you more easily share documents from Drive or music from Play Music with the capabilities to share across the Android and Google ecosystems. GooglePlus brings together different services in order to help serve its users.  All these services require a Google+ account as do many other Google services.

Aimed at Businesses

Google Plus may not have been the most used social networks compared to Facebook, but in terms of marketing, it was highly ranked. Google Plus had become widely aimed at businesses and top websites owners utilized it.  To have a good business you need to be seen on Google Plus.  With the use of Google Plus and creating a profile, you enhanced your ranks in being seen on search engines. GooglePlus used a variety of totals in their Search Engine Optimization (SEO).

High Traffic

The use of local carousel results, authorship, and publisher had helped to boost Google Plus SEO. These tools helped many businesses that used Google + to have high traffic on search engines.  The local carousel results helped display local businesses as a quick reference then scrolling down the page. GooglePlus Authorship was used hand in hand.  After a personal profile was made in Google Plus it could then be used on a web page.  Authorship allowed a picture on the profile and stats to show in the results of the search engine. It was a great way for people to be seen. GooglePlus publisher showed the number of followers for the profile, recent posts, and reviews. Many businesses that had made a Google Plus profile had a higher chance more website traffic and showing up in top results within Google than businesses that did not.

Google Reviews

Reviews being seen are a great opportunity for businesses. Having many reviews and good reviews on Google Plus impacted your business.  The best way for reviews to be seen was to have a page ranked within the Google Plus community.  The impact that Google Plus on search engine rankings was based on the personalization of the profile.  If you followed someone on GooglePlus, your chances of them coming up on your search result increase. The rankings were also based on the community and circles that you made.  

Integration of Applications

There were many applications that are now integrating with Google Plus.  Some applications required you to have a google plus profile to make comments or submit reviews.  YouTube was one of the web applications required you to have a Google account until they changed it recently.  Google Play, Gmail, Google Drive, Calendar, Photos, Maps, and Contacts are just a few of the applications that are integrated with GooglePlus account.  When you visited some of these applications Google Plus pages were set within them. 

Google Cloud – Backup

Unlike Twitter and Facebook and other social media platforms, every picture you took on your phone was backed up onto Google Plus which made it easier to clear memory on your phone since there was no hassle to back it up manually using a laptop or desktop. It also had a built-in photo editing program and photo-sharing capabilities. Google Plus also had it’s own video chat system called Google Hangouts which was similar to Skype. With GooglePlus it was easier to connect with others without having to make an account for different social media platforms since GooglePlus had it all integrated with your Google account.

Google Plus can bring more Traffic

Even though it was not as popular as Facebook it’s marketing towards a business’ was phenomenal.  GooglePlus SEO had 3 main components;

• Local carousel results
• Authorship
• Publisher

Local carousel results make the local business’ as one of the links once googling something. Google+ used a users profile picture as part of authorship showing their profile. The publisher showed the business’ profile, recent post, and reviews which made it easy for business’ to gain clients or customers. 

Many apps went hand in hand with Google Plus such as Google Play, Gmail, Google Drive, Calendar, Photos, Maps, and Contacts which are all connected to your Google account. Recently Youtube has changed it but you could have a Youtube account by just using your Google Plus information. Overall Google Plus was not just a way that made social media easier for daily use it was helpful for many businesses that had GooglePlus as their form of marketing.

Summary – End of Google Plus

Google Plus could have been of great importance in people’s social media lives. With 540 million monthly users meant that there were over 70 million small businesses’ using GooglePlus as their social media networking program. All Android users had GooglePlus as the main integrated program on their phone. Overall, its history now, and only time will tell if Google tries to compete against the other social media platforms…