# Google+ Closing Down in April **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [December 11, 2018, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-closing-down-in-april/825925 "2018-12-11T02:01:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![PastTense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pasttense/32/14550_2.png) [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2018, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-closing-down-in-april/825925/1 "2018-12-11T02:01:03Z")
> [@](#): > > Google+ has suffered another data leak, and Google has decided to shut down the consumer version of the social network four months earlier than it originally planned. Google+ will now close to consumers in April, rather than August. Additionally, API access to the network will shut down within the next 90 days. > > According to Google, the new vulnerability impacted 52.5 million users, who could have had profile information like their name, email address, occupation, and age exposed to developers, even if their account was set to private. Apps could also access profile data that had been shared with a specific user, but was not shared publicly. > **[Google will shut down Google+ four months early after second data leak](https://www.theverge.com/2018/12/10/18134541/google-plus-privacy-api-data-leak-developers)** > > The underloved social network will now close in April I was never interested in Google+ because of its real name policy, although I see back in 2011 several Dopers were very interested in getting Invites: > **[Google+ invites?](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=614385)** > > Anyone have them? I would like one… ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tim_r.mortiss/32/142_2.png) [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_R.Mortiss)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2018, 6:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-closing-down-in-april/825925/2 "2018-12-11T06:56:28Z")
Google seems to have introduced numerous platforms designed to take business away from Facebook, with Google+ being one of them. None have worked. Google Wave, anyone? And countless others. I’m not surprised to see yet another one go by the wayside. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2018, 7:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-closing-down-in-april/825925/3 "2018-12-11T07:51:46Z")
_Google Plus_ was poorly designed, and hadn’t had any upgrades in years. For a while it was a great place where amateur creators could hang out, those not quite good enough for their own blogs, YouTube channels, or Etsy stores because their output was a bit low rent. Hence why I was there. It’s a shame, but I admit I had lost interest in it for a while now. ---
**Author:** ![Carryon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9fc29f/32.png) [@Carryon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Carryon)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2019, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-closing-down-in-april/825925/4 "2019-02-02T14:43:43Z")
I am bumping this because my gmail accounts are getting notices about this now. I didn’t know till now. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2019, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-closing-down-in-april/825925/5 "2019-02-02T16:59:49Z")
I got an email telling me that my Google+ account would have all it’s content deleted soon and so if there was anything there that I wanted, I better recover it now. I didn’t even know I had a Google+ account so I checked it out and, wow, I didn’t really have a Google+ account. No content, no name, no pic, no info at all. I mean, it let me log in, but then there was nothing there. I’m thinking that it auto-created accounts from YouTube, etc. and that’s how I got one in the first place. Losing it is no loss for me. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2019, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-closing-down-in-april/825925/6 "2019-02-02T17:29:04Z")
> [@Carryon](#): > > I am bumping this because my gmail accounts are getting notices about this now. > > I didn’t know till now. I got a notice yesterday. Until then I forgot that I’d ever signed up for a Google+ account. I don’t think I ever used it. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2019, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-closing-down-in-april/825925/7 "2019-02-02T17:54:10Z")
I signed up for it at the very beginning. Never had more than a small handful of friends/followers on it and after a while of it being pretty useless I did what I could to get rid of it. What I could never figure out is where some of the ‘followers’ came from. I’m thinking they may have been people from here, but I have no idea and I was a bit annoyed when I’d get an email reminding to wish someone I’ve never heard of a happy birthday or telling me they commented on something I posted. In any case, I deleted as much as I could, unfriended everyone I could (not they they’d notice, since no one used it) and made it as private as possible. I was thrilled to find out they’re getting rid of it. ---
**Author:** ![Ike\_Witt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ike_witt/32/283_2.png) [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2019, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-closing-down-in-april/825925/8 "2019-02-02T19:18:41Z")
I’m sure MySpace can pick up any slack… ---
**Author:** ![CelticKnot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/celticknot/32/3392_2.png) [@CelticKnot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CelticKnot)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2019, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-closing-down-in-april/825925/9 "2019-02-02T19:19:55Z")
Never used Google+, never signed up for it, didn’t even know what it was until this thread. I only set up a gmail account because I needed an alternative email address, but I don’t remember why. I do use it now because I have an android phone, but not for most things. Actually SDMB is the only social media I use beyond commenting on news articles. ---
**Author:** ![nightshadea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/7ba0ec/32.png) [@nightshadea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nightshadea)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2019, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-closing-down-in-april/825925/10 "2019-02-02T19:33:21Z")
I think they signed you up for it when you made am YouTube account I remember seeing it on a list of Google things I was signed up for one time … ---
**Author:** ![Carryon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9fc29f/32.png) [@Carryon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Carryon)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2019, 6:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-closing-down-in-april/825925/11 "2019-02-03T06:47:32Z")
> [@nightshadea](#): > > I think they signed you up for it when you made am YouTube account I remember seeing it on a list of Google things I was signed up for one time … Correct, it was tied to your other Google accounts. ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2019, 1:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-closing-down-in-april/825925/12 "2019-02-03T13:09:28Z")
I eagerly await the launch of Google++. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2019, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-closing-down-in-april/825925/13 "2019-02-03T13:29:28Z")
Yeah, I got a notice, too. I had a Google+ account. Some of my friends posted content. I made some “circles”. I probably even posted a little. Oh – and when Motorola screwed me over, I chastised the guy in charge of messing up my phone. He was active on Google+. I’m not even going to look to see if there’s anything I want to copy to someplace else. I’m pretty certain there isn’t. When I first heard this, I was afraid Google Hangouts was going away – that used to be part of Google+, and that’s hugely useful. I’ve used it to make wifi phone calls in foreign countries, and to hold multi-way video-conferences in the US. But they seem to have peeled that off of Google+.