Earlier this month, Google announced that is it set to shut down the social media platform Google+ over the next 10 months in an official blog statement. The decision follows the exposure of a major security flaw that compromised user’s profile data in March 2018.

In this article, our Cheshire based web development agency will take a closer look into why Google have decided to pull the plug on Google+, and look to advise on why customers should look to channel their digital marketing efforts into Google My Business.

Let’s get started with a quick re-introduction to Google+…

What is Google+

Launched in June 2011, Google+ was described as a social media experiment with the purpose of trying to change how users share things online. Today, if a user decides to share or post something on social media, it sends to everyone who is friends or follows you…

Google+ decided to introduce the concept of ‘Circles’ – the idea where you could organize your friends into circle groups then have the ability to pick and choose which groups and/or users you wanted to share your posts with.

Google+ also saw the introduction of Google Hangouts (Messaging/Video Chat) along with the ability to edit and upload photos to private cloud-based, which were later integrated to other Google products.

Why is Google+ shutting down?

Security Flaw
On the same day the announcement was made, according to a report posted in the Wall Street Journal, a major security flaw containing information that Google+ users were led to believe were private and secure, had been accessible by third party developers.

The article also discloses that Google knew about the issue in March 2018 but opted not to disclose to users it’s discovery. In a statement, Google did address the issue and claimed the issue was not serious enough to inform the public;

“Our Privacy and Data Protection Office reviewed this issue, looking at the type of data involved, whether we could accurately identify the users to inform, whether there was any evidence of misuse, and whether there were any actions a developer or user could take in response“.

“None of these thresholds were met here.”

Ben Smith, Vice President of Engineering also confirmed “We found no evidence that any developer was aware of this bug, or abusing the API, and we found no evidence that any Profile data was misused.”

A failed experiment?
In the very same statement, Google also conceded that the social media platform failed to achieve broad consumer or developer adoption and has seen limited user interaction with apps. After much speculation, Google also released statistics stating the platform has low usage and engagement, with 90% of user sessions lasting less than five seconds.

The alternative… Google My Business
While the company still plans to keep the service alive to help facilitate conversation between co-workers, Google have introduced alternative products to help businesses achieve their digital marketing goals, say hello to Google My Business! – Read our recent article on Google My Business

As a Cheshire web development agency, we always try to advise clients and customers with how to grow your online search presence. Google My Business helps you attract new customers with your free Google listing. Using the image provided, you can see Google My Business will help you submit a post which will be displayed on Google search, add views, photos and much more…

If you would like any help creating or configuring your Google My Business profile, or any consultancy advise on how to grow your website, get in contact with untitled™, your Cheshire based web design, web development and website performance agency.