Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG)’s Plus is not finished yet. Surprisingly, there are still users who want it. The reason being it is a different kind of social media network. However, it appears Google is going to break it down into smaller pieces.
Although, Google Plus still exists the search engine company has made clear its intentions of winding it down. Their latest declarations all indicated that.
The search engine giant is committed to separate Google+ and YouTube. It has also waived off the mandatory Google Plus profile for folks desiring to use Google products and services. While many users are understandably happy about the separation of YouTube and Google+, the move may not be a good one.
According to NASDAQ, close to 90% of Google+ profiles contain barely any information and leveraged as a channel to login to different Google services. Google+ active users reached a high of 540 million in October 2013. Since then the numbers are dropping and may be currently only around 300 million.
A feature that Google+ provided YouTube was to send a notification mail to users whenever new videos were uploaded. While users may have been against the requirement to hold a Google + profile for commenting on YouTube, this aspect did increase the number of Google+ members in large measures.
With the current decision to separate it from YouTube, it’s unclear from where Google+ will get new users. As per Google, it’s not ending Google+. However, it’s going to streamline the service and make it better. However, there are many skeptics who don’t buy the argument.
Some say folks interested in utilizing Google services will take the initiative to sign up for Google+. However, this seems unlikely particularly when attractive options such as Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB), WhatsApp, Instagram, Twitter Inc (NYSE:TWTR) and others exist.
Google made a wrong move by forcing people using YouTube to sign up for Google+. It should have relied on the attractiveness of its social media platform to cultivate user base. After that move backfired, Google has taken the belated step to decouple the two platforms. However, it may be a case of being too late here.
Sources: forbes, androidheadlines
