Google recently announced it was shutting down its social media platform Google+ for consumers. While this may not be a surprise, considering the site never quite caught on like other social sites, it’s still worth noting.
The reason Google gave for shutting down the platform was that, “There are significant challenges in creating and maintaining a successful Google Plus product that meets consumers’ expectations.” This was all kicked off after a discovery that a bug in the Google Plus People API put some user information at risk. Google said it “patched” that bug immediately after it was discovered in March 2018 and estimates that upwards of 500,000 user accounts were impacted.
Unfortunately, Google cannot confirm which users were specifically impacted by this bug. But there is no evidence that any developer was aware of this bug or abusing the API. So even if your account was impacted by the bug, most likely you were safe (as far as Google has let us know).
The site will be gone for consumers by next August, 2019, after a 10 month-long shut down process. However, a version will still be available for corporations. More information about what that will look like, and how users can export their data and posts, will be coming soon.
While the data breach is what inspired the shutdown, Google did admit that the site was super popular. Google’s VP of Engineering Ben Smith wrote that “the consumer version of Google+ currently has low usage and engagement: 90 percent of Google+ user sessions are less than five seconds.”
You might not even know if you have a G+ profile – but if you use Gmail, most likely you do have an account. If you want to delete it before they remove it for you in 10 months, it’s a simple process.
When signed into your Google account, go to Gmail. Select your icon in the top right. If it has “Google+ profile” up there, you still have an account even if it is dormant.
Click on ‘Google+ profile’ to visit the page. When you arrive click on Settings within the left rail. All the way at the bottom of the settings page is ‘Account – Delete Your Google+ Profile’.
While at its peak, Google+ was believed to contribute to SEO boosts, it has largely been ignored over the last few years. Instead, Google had been building up their Google Places listings, and provided spaces for businesses to share content via their Google My Business page.
If you were using Google+ for marketing purposes for your business, there is no reason to panic. Instead, you should focus your efforts on Google My Business and other social media sites.
Check out this blog, How Google Is Making SEO Harder – And What To Do About It, for some tips on optimizing your Google business page. Google has been working to replace Yelp and other similar sites by offering reviews and information right in the search engine results pages. By building up your presence there, you can increase traffic to your site straight from Google.