Google has announced that Google+ personal users (also known as consumers' version) will be shut down by April 2, 2019. This announcement came on the heels of a recently announced data breach that happened on the platform during March of last year.

Launched in 2010, Google+ was the latest attempt in creating a social media platform similar to Facebook. While it may not have been as successful as its competitors, Google+ still has a dedicated following through the communities that have been established. To prepare its users for the shutdown, Google has now created a process that allows users to be able to save and move their Google+ data. We’ll be discussing this process, along with more details about the shutdown of Google’s social media network.

Reasons for the shut-down

Data breach:

One of the main reasons that Google+ will be shut down might be linked to the data breach that happened on the platform on March 2018. Over 500,000 accounts had their personal and private information illegally shared without consent by a number of developers.

The most concerning part about this information was the fact that Google did not disclose the news for a number of months, which left a large number of profiles vulnerable. While Google has stated that none of the data was mishandled, data regulators would still point out that the breach was not informed to the public.
Small user-base:

Another reason for shutting down Google+ is due to the low number of users on the platform. When it launched in 2011, people across the internet were already using Facebook and Twitter as their main social media platforms, both receiving a surge in the number of users. This meant that Google+ already has hefty competition when it comes to attracting users to their platform. Despite having dedicated communities and users, their number is still eclipsed by other social media platforms. Initial attempts to get more users to include making Google+ as a way to log-in to Google services such as YouTube and Gmail, a feature that was eventually removed. In the past few years, Google+ has become a social media platform that caters to specific niches, becoming an alternative platform that is less crowded but has a more passionate community.
While many social media users across the world wouldn’t bother too much on the shutting down of Google+, the small passionate communities in the soon to be gone platform are now looking for a new social media platform where they can recreate the sense of community.
Saving of Data


Google+ will be shutting down in barely 2 months time, which means that users would have to export their data out of the platform if they wish to save any. To help users do this, Google launched a service called Takeout, which makes exporting data a much smoother and more efficient process. All you have to do is to log-in to your Google Account and begin the process of downloading your data.

You can select which datasets you would want to download, which includes, Google+, Hangouts, and +1s. Once you have selected the data, you can choose the file type and create the archive. This ensures that your data would not be permanently deleted once it shuts down.

Google plus was a huge L", so as hangout, even Google contact is more relevant than Duo. They only have YouTube and..... Okay android. Chrome browser, ok. So what else? Alright map is a success too but they better watch out for future lawsuits on privacy infringement.

So sad to see it go. They should have designed it like instagram and it would have been more popular