April 2nd: deadline day for Google+ deletion

I would say it is the end of an era but ill-fated social network Google+ has lived and will die in relative obscurity. For those who still have accounts on the platform, they will be shut down on April 2nd “due to low usage and challenges involved in maintaining a successful product that meets consumers’ expectations”.

It is always hard to guess what makes an online service thrive or fade away. Google launched this product in 2011, assuming that its many Gmail, Google Photo and other web service users might migrate over. Low usage was a major issue from the beginning. An attempt to pump up numbers in 2013 by forcing YouTube users to create a Google+ in order to comment was met with widespread disapproval and eventually reversed.

Back to the issue at hand: if you use the Google+ Album Archive to store pics or videos, these need to be backed up to Google Photos or they will be deleted. And those still using G+ as a way to let readers comment on their blog or website will have to find an alternative plug-in. This means all previous comments will be deleted but it is possible to download and save these.

https://support.google.com/plus/answer/9195133