At the tail end of 2018, Google announced it will be shutting down Google+ come April this year. The reason behind this decision was low usage of the social media platform, once hailed as the Facebook-killer that never even came close. And now, Google wants to shift its resources towards its other services that are performing better.
Google+ initial years seemed very promising as it rose in popularity quite fast. It came against a backdrop of collapsing Myspace, and Facebook early years in the social media business; though it (Facebook) had already attained dominance position in the market. However, Google+ did not prove compelling enough to keep the momentum going.
Google took the pains to explain how it will be phasing out Google+ in a blog post. Personal accounts (consumers) will be the first to be euthanized come April 2nd, and the company has given users the option of downloading all their Google+ data. Though pictures uploaded on Google Photos will not be deleted.
Starting February 4, users will no longer be able to create new Google+ profiles, communities, pages, or events. In the following week, you will no longer be able to sign into website using your Google+ account, and such logins will be shifted to using your Google account to sign in.
However, G Suite customers (premium service) will continue using their Google+ accounts. These accounts will remain active. Google is only shutting down the service for consumers; those without the G Suite account.
