Say Goodbye to Google+ On April 2

It’s been years since Google hasn’t put some work into Google Plus, and after over than 500,000 users were affected by a security vulnerability, the company had to finally let it go. At the end of 2018, they announced its closure and the latest update was released on 31 January, noting that the platform will be deleted after April 2.

Google Plus Gets DELETED

The platform will not just be shut down, but completely erased from the internet, says their blog post:

“On April 2nd, your Google+ account and any Google+ pages you created will be shut down and we will begin deleting content from consumer Google+ accounts.”

However, if any of you really used Google Plus, you can download an archive of all the information and data from your account. Google stated that the deletion would take a while, considering it has been integrated into many other services.

For the G Suite users, there’s some good news, said Ars Technica. It looks like Google Plus will only be available to paying G Suite customers, with the outlet stating that Google+ will remain active and that “the company even promises ‘a new look and new features soon’ on the G Suite side of things.”

For the rest of the users, Google will be phasing out Google+ starting with February 4, when they won’t allow creating new Google+ profiles, pages, communities or events. The sign-in buttons will not work anymore, but there are other ways you can sign in. Then, by 7 March, the comments on Blogger through Google+ will be removed.

As for why Google has decided to kill the platform, they said that 90% of the users engage in sessions that last less than five seconds, which means that the consumer version of the platform is not used enough.

Stay In Touch With Others

Finally, Google recommends the active users of Google+ to leave a message to their friends on the platform saying where else they can be found:

“Between now and the shutdown, we recommend you let your followers know where they can see your content outside of Google+. Consider creating a post that lists your website, blog, social media channels, and other ways to stay in touch.”