Google has announced more sweeping changes for Google Plus over the next few months as it restructures network into two distinctly separate products: streams and photos.
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With the new development, you’ll only need a Google Account – no Google+ profile – to use Google’s services.
People had long been skeptical and disapproving of Google’s mandatory integration of its social network on all its services, feeling like it mainly functioned to help Google get more information on users for ads purposes.
Noting feedback from Google users, Horowitz said, “It doesn’t make sense for your Google+ profile to be your identity in all the other Google products you use”. On Tuesday, the company announced its most drastic step for breaking up Google Plus. However, the ambitions of Google regarding Google+ were not met. The product had never taken off in popularity and it was slowly dying even since it was first launched. Google also says that in the future, YouTube users will be able to delete the Google+ accounts they were forced to make, without losing any data.
Writing further on his own Google+ profile, Horowitz admitted that joining YouTube with Google+ was a controversial decision. He explained that the company’s well intentional goal could not be reached, since its experts realized Google+ has become a product that leads to experiences users may find confusing sometimes.
The changes also mark a symbolic end of Google Plus as a social network meant to rival Facebook.
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Meanwhile, the social network’s location sharing ability will be moved over to Hangouts and other unspecified apps, “where it really belongs”.
