Google Plus

306 'Google Plus' stories June 2011 - October 2021

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Google Plus was developed at breakneck speed to counter the rising threat of Facebook in social. Launched in June 2011, Google Plus allowed users to post status updates and organized friends into groups called Circles. There was an instant messaging and video component called Hangouts, as well as a photo backup service.

In addition to being a social network, Plus was meant to be the social layer to all of Google’s other products. A user’s Google Plus profile was used for many other services, like YouTube. The ‘+1’ button was a competitor to Facebook’s ‘Like’ button and was present throughout the web.

Despite the attempts at company-wide integration, Google Plus never really took of among users. In November of 2015, Google unveiled a major redesign that put a renewed focus on Collections and Communities to create an interest-based social network instead.

Popular features like Hangouts and Google Photos were eventually spun out into their own separate and wildly popular product.

Google+

Google Plus

Google+ trends in the aftermath of massive Facebook, Instagram outage

Ben Schoon Oct 4 2021 - 4:26 pm PT

Shut down in 2019, Google+ was never really a favorite for most in the social media landscape. However, during today’s massive and extended Facebook outage, Google+ came to mind for quite a few people.

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Google+

Google Plus

Nearly 2M former Google+ users can claim their $2.15 payout from class-action lawsuit

Ben Schoon Aug 4 2021 - 11:33 am PT

It’s been over two years since Google pulled the plug on its biggest attempt at launching a social network, but many forget a big reason why it was killed off. A privacy breach on Google+ resulted in a class-action lawsuit, and now, millions of former users are getting payouts.

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Many receiving settlement notices for Google+ class-action lawsuit

Kyle Bradshaw Aug 4 2020 - 12:24 am PT

Google Plus class action

If you were a member of Google Plus before it shut down last year, odds are you got an email informing you that a class-action lawsuit against Google has been settled.

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Google+ comes to an end as Google Currents for Android, iOS launches

Abner Li Jul 6 2020 - 9:41 am PT

As telegraphed last month to G Suite admins, Google Currents is exiting beta and entering general availability today. The social network shut down last April, but Google is keeping the service alive for enterprise customers that need an internal way to communicate with employees.

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Google made an actual product graveyard for Halloween w/ G+, Reader, more

Ben Schoon Oct 4 2019 - 6:16 am PT

google product graveyard seattle office halloween

Google has a reputation for killing off its products. So much so, that there are multiple websites dedicated to tracking the company’s murders. At one of its campuses, Google made an actual product graveyard to decorate for Halloween.

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Google+ dead

Google Plus

RIP: Google+ is officially dead as Google pulls the plug on consumer accounts

Ben Schoon Apr 2 2019 - 10:18 am PT

It’s official. About eight years after it’s debut, Google has officially pulled the plug on its social network, Google+.

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As Google+ goes dark, here’s what the social network meant to the 9to5Google team

Stephen Hall Apr 2 2019 - 9:54 am PT

Google Plus class action

After years of living in the shadow of the social media behemoths, Google’s ill-fated Google+ social network closes its doors today for good. I’d be hard to convince that G+ will be missed by the masses, but none can deny that a certain subset of Google fans and Android users found a community there unlike any other. Here’s what Google+ meant to us.

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[Update: goo.gl is dead] Google ‘Spring Cleaning’ kills off Inbox, Google+, more in the next few weeks

Ben Schoon Apr 1 2019 - 6:13 am PT

Google is notorious at this point for killing off products seemingly for no reason. Sometimes it’s a shame, other times it goes nearly unnoticed. In the next few weeks, though, Google is preparing to kill off quite a few beloved products including Inbox by Gmail, Google+, Allo, and its URL shortener.

Here’s a calendar of what’s coming and what’s being killed with Google’s “Spring Cleaning.”

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Ahead of imminent closure, Internet Archive saves all public Google+ posts

Ben Schoon Mar 18 2019 - 7:08 am PT

Google+

In just a couple of weeks, Google is shutting down its social network, Google+. While you can download all of your data from the platform directly, the Internet Archive is making sure that content lives on by archiving all public posts on Google+.

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Android Beta community ditches dying Google+ for Reddit

Ben Schoon Mar 8 2019 - 7:12 am PT

Android

Google+ is on its deathbed with just a few weeks of life left. Today, another nail goes into the coffin with the announcement that the official Android Beta community is leaving Google+ in exchange for Reddit.

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Google Plus

Google+ will shut down for consumers on April 2nd, some features killed as soon as next week

Ben Schoon Jan 30 2019 - 12:51 pm PT

It’s been a long road, but Google+ is finally about to kiss this world goodbye. The polarizing social network is losing its consumer version very soon, and now we’ve finally got specific dates. The consumer version of Google+ ends on April 2nd, 2019.

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Google Plus

[Update: Back] PSA: Google+ is currently down, for the dozen of you who still care

Ben Schoon Jan 10 2019 - 10:33 pm PT

Google’s social network Google+ is very much on its last limbs. The company announced last year that the service would be shutting down in late 2019, and then that timeline was moved up dramatically. Tonight, the service has experienced an interruption.

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Google Plus

Google+ APIs will shut down on March 7th, could start failing next month ahead of April closing

Ben Schoon Dec 21 2018 - 8:13 am PT

It’s bittersweet to see it go, but Google+ is shutting down in April 2019. The social network has seen security breaches causing its downfall, and ahead of the full closing, Google has just revealed that Google+ APIs will shut down starting on March 7th.

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Google+ shutdown expedited after new privacy bug affecting 50M+ users discovered

Abner Li Dec 10 2018 - 9:59 am PT

Google+

Just before Made by Google 2018, the company announced that it was shutting down Google+ for consumers after discovering a privacy bug. Google today uncovered a second issue with its social network and is expediting the deprecation as a result.

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Google+

Google Plus

Google+ for G Suite is business as usual, with new features

Kyle Bradshaw Oct 11 2018 - 9:26 am PT

Earlier this week, awkwardly just ahead of the Made by Google event, it was announced that Google+ was shutting down for consumers. That distinction is important, as we learn today that Google+ for G Suite is getting new business-minded social networking features.

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How to download your Google+ data before it shuts down this April

Ben Schoon Oct 8 2018 - 12:55 pm PT

Well, it finally happened. Google+ is officially being shut down. The ill-fated social network never really had mass adoption, but its core user base is certainly already pretty vocal about it going away, though. If you’re an avid user, here’s how to download Google+ data before it gets shut down.

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Google+ is shutting down for consumers after privacy bug

Abner Li Oct 8 2018 - 10:05 am PT

Google+

According to the Wall Street Journal this morning, Google discovered a user data bug in Google+ last spring. However, the issue appears to not have been abused by any third-party developers. The company opted to not disclose the issue, but in response is now shutting down the failed social network for consumers.

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Google Plus

Google France shuts down official Google+ page, directs followers to Twitter & Facebook

Ben Schoon Aug 24 2018 - 6:46 am PT

Google+, despite a collection of passionate users, has never been all that much of a success for Google. Now, hilariously, Google is shutting down one of its official pages on the social network and directing users to the competition.

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Google+

Google+ killing older Android and iOS versions w/ photo backup functionality next month

Abner Li Apr 26 2018 - 10:00 am PT

Following the launch of Photos in May 2015, Google began winding down similar functionality in Google+. A full deprecation of the remaining backup feature is now set for next month as older versions of the Android and iOS apps will stop working.

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G Suite

Google Calendar and Google+ on the web gain new G Suite profile information cards

Abner Li Apr 24 2018 - 1:39 pm PT

Last week, G Suite began rolling out a new enterprise-grade version of Education to its customers, while major launches in recent months include the addition of Hangouts Chat. Today, G Suite is adding convenient new profile information cards on web apps.

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Google Plus

Google+ adds new ‘Highlight’ notification for communities and collections

Ben Schoon Mar 27 2018 - 9:33 am PT

There are a lot of things Google+ does better than other social networks, but notifications have never been one of them. Especially in the case of communities, notifications have only ever had two levels — all in or nothing. Now, though, Google is introducing a new “Highlights” feature for notifications on the social network.

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Google+ for Android adopts a brighter design, white bottom bar

Abner Li Mar 6 2018 - 12:15 pm PT

Last month, Google+ for Android received a “complete rewrite” that featured “subtle updates,” but otherwise reminded visually unchanged. The latest version is rolling out today and it includes a brighter, white design.

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Google+ is getting a ‘brand new’ app on Android in the coming days

Ben Schoon Feb 6 2018 - 6:17 am PT

Remember Google+? While many of us have ditched the platform in recent years, Google has put a lot of time into improving it for those who are still big fans of the service. Now, Google is preparing to launch a “brand new version” of Google+ for Android.

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Google+

Google+ makes comment moderation tools available to all users

Abner Li Dec 14 2017 - 9:31 am PT

Following this week’s addition of advanced search filters and more stats for Community moderators, Google+ is now gaining more tools to moderate comments. Specifically, all users will be able to delete, report, and block comments on their posts.

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