User Data Leaks, Google+ Will Be Closed?

Products from Google prove to be not always successful. After several years adorning the world of social media, Google+ will eventually be closed.

Products from Google prove to be not always successful. After several years adorning the world of social media, Google+ will eventually be closed.

This is because security gaps on Google+ social media expose 500,000 more personal data to users.

Hundreds of thousands of data consists of names, e-mail addresses, jobs, gender, age, hobbies, and other important data.

Actually, the defect of Google+ has happened for three years, starting from 2015 to 2018. Google also tried to fix it but eventually chose to close the social media on Monday (8/10).

The reason, Google does not want to attract strict supervision from internet regulators and social media.

"We will deactivate Google+ for all consumers," as written on Google's official blog, Tuesday (9/10). "Google+ also has a very low level of usage and user ties," Google wrote.

Remembering Google+ Travel from the Beginning

It all started when Google+ was released in June 2011. The platform became Google's next effort in giving birth to social networking after having launched Orkut (2004), Google Friend Connect (2008) and Google Buzz (2010).

Interestingly, the history of all three has finished. Orkut closed in 2014. Google Friend Connect retired in 2012. While Google Buzz can only last for one year.

Even so, with Vic Gundotra and Bradley Horowitz behind the wheel, Google+ presents an idea called Circles. This allows the user to create groups based on relationships, such as family, friends, and colleagues so that the chat in it will suit the people in it.

In fact, the way Google makes it easy for users to create groups is considered better than Facebook at that time. For your information, social media also has a system of contact organizations in it.

Another feature that was presented was Sparks which helped users to find news and information according to their interests. Hangouts was also introduced by Google+.

Questioned Mark Zuckerberg

Two weeks after launch, the platform already has 10 million users. Then, the number increased to 25 million after Google+ took a month after it was released.

The number continued to increase to 40 million in October 2011 and 90 million at the end of the year. Impressive figures to show his seriousness in challenging Facebook. Even so, it cannot guarantee whether the users will continue to use it or not. That was also underlined by Mark Zuckerberg when commenting for the first time about Google+.

At that time, he said that all Facebook competitors must build a graph that describes the personal relationship of each user. His social media, which at that time already had 750 million, would have done it.

Google+ is starting to slow down

Over time, Google+ also began to encounter sharp gravels. The policy that requires the user to use real names is criticizing. In addition, their lack of skill in managing spam also received oblique comments.

In addition, his decision to require users to have a Google+ account when they want to join Gmail was also criticized. In the midst of the storm, Hangouts seemed to be heading towards a brighter future than its own parent, namely Google+.

In 2013, the platform appeared to be running out of gas. Engagement users are considered minimal, and not touching many parties. One reason is, Google+ is not considered as a site that people like to visit, but is more like a layer than other services owned by Google.

Various attempts were made to lift the platform. A new feature called Communities until integration with Gmail and Google Contacts was also raised.

One of the most interesting things is, Google requires YouTube users to have a Google+ account if they want to write comments on the videos they watch. Again, this action reap scathing criticism.

Stripped down to the roots

In April 2014, Google+ was left by its leader, Vic Gundotra. Not long ago, precisely in July 2014, it was the turn of the Hangouts service to come out and stand alone.

One interesting thing, Google+ removes policies that require users to write real names. They also apologized for the birth of the regulation.

The following year, Google+ continued to be stripped down after its photo sharing feature became its own product under the name Google Photos. The right decision because at the end of 2015 the platform already has 100 million monthly active users.

Still in the same year, Google+ is also no longer required for users who want to write comments on YouTube. A similar thing was done with Android Gaming and Play Store in 2016.

2017 calendar just passed without any significant changes until finally in October 2018, Google+ was announced officially closed. As mentioned above, the lack of users to security issues is the reason.

This could be the right decision from Google in stopping Google+. If not, it is not impossible for them to experience a bigger case like Facebook with Cambridge Analytica.