Is Google+ Dead Or Is It Set For A Rebirth?

Google+ has been struggling for a long time now, and it’s no secret that the social media platform never managed to become as popular as Google had hoped. Now, it seems that Google may be taking a big step back, as it has removed the overt link to Google+ from its main search page.

This move continues the trend of Google backing away from its earlier favored treatment of Google+, when the company went so far as to make the creation of a Google+ account mandatory when creating accounts for other Google services. The company made many different efforts to integrate Google+ into its full product line, including Gmail contact management, a Google+ share box on Google’s main search page, and display of Google+ authors in search results.

However, by now, a large amount of that integration has been either removed or de-emphasized by the company. Active user metrics haven’t been reported since October 2013. Last week, Google removed Photos, which was one of Google+’s most popular features, from the social network and relaunched it as a standalone property, further indicating the decline of Google+.

Perhaps not surprisingly, Bradley Horowitz, the executive in charge of Google+, paints a very different picture. He pointed to new Google+ features, such as Collections, and said that Google will be continuing to make changes to the network, building on popular elements and getting rid of things that aren’t working.

“No, Google Plus is not dead,” said Horowitz. “In fact, it’s got more signs of life than it’s had in some time.” He didn’t specifically explain what the company thinks isn’t working on the network, but he did say that more adjustments will be coming soon.

“It’s fair to say you’re about to see a huge shift in what Plus is becoming,” said Horowitz. “It’s a shift in response to what users are telling us. That’s a very healthy and natural thing. As opposed to sticking to strategies of years ago, we’re actually adapting to how the product is successful in market and doubling-down on that.”

Truly, Horowitz’s remarks about Google+ are the most expansive that we’ve heard from a Google executive since the social network’s founding father Vic Gundotra left the company in April 2014. Gundotra’s departure prompted a great deal of speculation that Google+ would either disappear or be broken up into several components, and the company hasn’t said much to counter that speculation until now.

It’s difficult to imagine Google+ growing massively in popularity in the near future, but social media and digital marketing can take quick turns that are unexpected, so it will be interesting to see what Google will do to make a change.

“Three and a half years into this journey, we’re looking at what the users are telling us Google Plus is good for, and doubling-down on those uses,” said Horowitz. “For instance, one particular use-case on Google Plus is people aligning around common interests. If I’m interested in astronomy and I want to meet other people interested in astronomy, we think we have a good solution – Collections, a new feature that we launched just two weeks ago. It’s the first in a series of pivots. We’re also moving aside the things that either belong as independent products, like photos, or eliminating things that we think aren’t working.”