Google shuts down its failed social network Google+ amid security issues

Google+ was launched in 2011 but failed to attract a sizable or active user base compared to Facebook and Twitter

Google has officially shut down its failed social network Google+.

In February, the search giant disabled the creation of new accounts, and now it has started deleting the content from consumer Google+ accounts, a process that may take several months to complete.

"On April 2nd, your Google+ account and any Google+ pages you created will be shut down," the company had warned in a post in January.

According to Google, users will no longer be able to access their personal Google+ pages once the content deletion process is completed.

Google decided to close Google+ after finding a security bug in the service that exposed private data of about half a million users, including their names and email addresses.

The company, however, didn't publically disclose details about the security flaw until October 2018. At that time, Google admitted that the social networking platform had such a low level of engagement that it was considering closing the service entirely.

In December, Google found another security bug that exposed the personal data of about 52 million users to third-party developers. Google then decided to shut down the platform months earlier than initially planned.

However, Google+ had really failed years earlier, say analysts who had watched the platform closely since its launch in 2011. Although Google rolled out the platform as the company's challenge to popular social media networks, like Twitter and Facebook, it failed to attract a sizable user base compared to rival platforms.

According to Google, the platform was designed as a "social layer" to work across all its services. It offered users the ability to post photos and status updates on individual feeds and sort friends into 'Circles'. The 'Hangouts' feature enabled users to make group video calls.

In a bid to increase its user base, Google "integrated" the platform with services such as Gmail. That meant that anyone with a Gmail account effectively also had a Google+ account, whether they wanted it or not.

In 2013, Google made it mandatory for YouTube users to have a Google+ account in order to post comments on YouTube videos.

Many YouTube video-makers criticised Google's decision, saying the company was trying to use their popularity to increase user base of the struggling social network.

But, despite all those efforts, the service still failed to win people over - regardless of the number of accounts Google could claim for Google+, it couldn't make them post content.

Now, Google has set up a FAQs page for Google+ users to help them navigate the consumer Google+ shutdown.

According to Google, the Google+ shutdown will not affect 'Google My Business' listing of the users as they are separate products with separate accounts.

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