COVID-19 Update: Artonezero are still operating as normal from home. Read more

Blog

Back to all blogs

Google is shutting down Google+ following data exposure

Google + is shutting down early after second bug is revealed

Google has announced that it is shutting down the consumer version of Google+ after user data was left exposed.

Google announced in a blog post today that it is going to shut down the consumer version of Google Plus over the course of the next ten months.

A software bug was discovered that gave developers access to the private profile data of over 500,000 users.

Google says that there is no evidence of developers being aware of this bug, and also no evidence that any data has been misused.

The bug was discovered in March 2018, and a report in the Wall Street Journal says that Google did not disclose the information sooner because it feared regulatory scrutiny.

The Wall Street Journal quoted an internal memo that said that disclosing the information would draw “immediate regulatory interest”.

In a statement, the firm said the issue was not serious enough to inform the public.

“Our Privacy & Data Protection Office reviewed this issue, looking at the type of data involved, whether we could accurately identify the users to inform, whether there was any evidence of misuse, and whether there were any actions a developer or user could take in response. None of these thresholds were met in this instance.”

Google + was launched in 2011 and became quickly known as a struggling attempt to compete with Facebook.

Now, after years of speculation that it was going to be shut down, Google + for consumers will begin the shutdown process over a 10-month process. Completion is set for the end of next August.

Google revealed that the usage engagement of Google + is lower than some may have expected, with “The consumer version of Google+ currently has low usage and engagement: 90 percent of Google+ user sessions are less than five seconds”.

However, Google has said that it would continue to offer Google + for enterprise users:

“At the same time, we have many enterprise customers who are finding great value in using Google+ within their companies. Our review showed that Google+ is better suited as an enterprise product where co-workers can engage in internal discussions on a secure corporate social network. Enterprise customers can set common access rules, and use central controls, for their entire organization. We’ve decided to focus on our enterprise efforts and will be launching new features purpose-built for businesses. We will share more information in the coming days.”

We will keep you updated with more information over the coming months.

You may also like...

6-inbound-marketing-strategy-tips-every-business-should-use.jpg

6 inbound marketing strategy tips every business should use

Inbound marketing is much more of a whole approach than a list of tactics. An inbound marketing strategy, at its core, is more about attracting prospects to your business rather than finding prospects and going in for the hard-sell. We have put together the following six inbound marketing tips that we believe that every business should use as part of their inbound marketing strategy.

Content Marketing

Jun 22, 2018

7 SEO trends coming your way in 2019

7 SEO trends coming your way in 2019

Happy new year! With 2019 fully underway, now is the time to make sure that you have your marketing plans for this year all set and ready to go. 

The start of the new year is always the best time to get your SEO in gear for the year ahead, and to help you stay ahead of the game in 2019 we have put together these 7 SEO trends you can expect to see in 2019.

Digital Marketing

Jan 8, 2019

Facebook releases search advertisements in Newsfeed and Marketplace

Facebook releases search advertisements in Newsfeed and Marketplace

After a five-year hiatus, Facebook is officially reigniting its involvement with search advertising.

On December 11th 2018, Facebook began Alpha testing ad inventory in the app’s native search results with a select group of U.S advertisers in retail, automobile and e-commerce. Dependant on the outcome of initial Alpha testing, Facebook may expand this offering to a larger number of Beta advertisers for further testing.

SEO

Jan 16, 2019

Some of our work

We'd love to hear from you!

Email anytime, or call us on 020 301 103 90 during office hours.