Google is planning to disassemble its social network, Google+. This means that it will no longer exist as a social network aimed at competing with Facebook, but it still may be integrated into Google's existing products.Recently Google’s Vic Gundotra announced that he would be leaving the company after eight years. The first obvious question is where this leaves Google+, Gundotra’s baby and primary project for the past several of those years.
A Google representative has denied these claims. “Today’s news has no impact on our Google+ strategy — we have an incredibly talented team that will continue to build great user experiences across Google+, Hangouts and Photos.”
According techcrunch, Google has apparently been reshuffling the teams that used to form the core of Google+, a group numbering between 1,000 and 1,200 employees. We hear that there’s a new building on campus, so many of those people are getting moved physically, as well — not necessarily due to Gundotra’s departure.
As part of these staff changes, the Google Hangouts team will be moving to the Android team, and it’s likely that the photos team will follow, these people said. Basically, talent will be shifting away from the Google+ kingdom and towards Android as a platform.
Google is also reportedly scrapping mandatory Google+ integration with its other products. That doesn't mean it will completely go away, but the integration may be scaled back.
Gundotra reportedly clashed with others inside the company, particularly around this idea of "forced" Google+ integrations into products like YouTube and Gmail.
The changes aren't particularly surprising, given Google+ as a standalone social media site didn't reach the level of popularity as rivals such as Facebook. According to The Wall Street Journal, Google+ had about seven million daily active users two years ago.
According to The Wall Street Journal, Google+ had about seven million daily active users two years ago. By active, the WSJ means who read posts on the social network, not those who click Google+ notifications while using Google’s other services. It’s possible it’s grown since then, but considering that Google+ is being broken up, it seems unlikely that it had massive growth.
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