ICYMI: Google+ shutting down on April 2nd

The official version, from Product Manager David Conway:

We announced this past fall that we’re sunsetting consumer Google+ in April 2019, and today have more details to share. While this process of deleting consumer content will take a few months and some content may remain visible during this time, you should take action before April to ensure you don’t lose any content you want to save.

Many different people use Google+, from everyday consumer users to developers to teams in business settings. Because of this, we want to provide the details you need to navigate this change. Below is more information and recommended actions.

Lauren Weinstein:

For weeks now, I’ve been pounding on Google to get more explicit about their impending shutdown of consumer Google+. What they’ve finally written today on a G+ help page [support.google.com/googlecur…](https://support.google.com/googlecurrents/answer/9195133) demonstrates clearly how little that they care about G+ users who have spent years of their lives building up the service, appears to put a lie to key claimed excuses for ending consumer G+, and calls into question the degree to which any consumer or business users of Google should trust the firm’s dedication to any specific services going forward.

The originally announced shutdown date was for August. Then suddenly it was advanced to April (we now know from their new help page post that the official death date is 2 April 2019, though the process of completely deleting everyone from existence may take some months).

The key reasons for the shutdown originally stated by Google were API “security problems” that were obviously blown out of proportion — Google isn’t even mentioning those in their new announcements. Surprise, surprise:

“Given the challenges in creating and maintaining a successful Google+ that meets our consumer users’ expectations, we decided to sunset the consumer version of Google+. We’re committed to focusing on our enterprise efforts, and will be launching new features purpose-built for businesses.”

Translation: Hey, you’re not paying us anything, bug off!

Xeni Jardin, over at Boing Boing:

Google announced last fall it’s killing off Google+ because of the social network’s laughably “low usage” and “challenges involved in maintaining a successful product that meets consumers’ expectations,” plus revelations of serious security vulnerabilities.

In a blog post and related support page that went live today, Google explained how the shutdown will unfold, and the important part for most ‘consumer’ users is this: they’re gonna delete all your posts, photos, videos, and comments, starting on April 2.

[…]

That’s April 2.

Because April 1 would have been too hilarious.