Google+ is not dead. Well, not yet.
In fact, Google has been working on the platform with a view to better aligning it with what Google+ users actually use it for. Today, Google has unveiled the new Google+, with the ‘new’ version being a scaled back offering putting more focus on the elements that worked.
In a post titled “Introducing the new Google+”, Google’s Director of Streams Eddie Kessler outlines the basis of the re-imagined platform.
From the post:
“Since we last posted, we’ve spent a lot of time listening to what people using Google+ had to say. There were two features they kept coming back to: Communities, which now average 1.2 million new joins per day, and Collections, which launched just five months ago and is growing even faster. Whether it’s the Nonfiction Addiction Community, where people can be found discussing the best in Crime or Travel storytelling, or the Watch Project Collection, where more than 40,000 people are following an antique watch hobbyist, these are the places on Google+ where people around the world are spending their time discovering and sharing things they love.”
As previously noted, the new focus of Google+ is less on being a social platform aimed at challenging the existing providers and more on its strength in communities and differentiating features. This is largely on how many social commentators have expected the dismantling of Google+ to play out – as Google’s slowly chipped away at what G+ once was, their communities have always been viewed as a major strength, particularly in regards to technical and niche communities that have built up strong, loyal and highly beneficial networks through Google+ groups.
The Changing Design
The new Google+ ‘puts “Communities and Collections front and center”, with a particular focus on mobile. The iOS app has been completely re-built, while the focus of the Android app has been switched up.
The Home screen still shows you posts from friends as normal, yet Google has changed its algorithm to highlight things that the system suspects you’ll likely to be interested in, based on your past on-platform behaviors.
The Communities tab is significantly different, offering a wide range of possible interests, tailored to your most likely preferences. Communities look particularly interesting on mobile, with a re-designed interface and more user-friendly options. The new design presents a more stripped back feel, designed for easier interactions and to simplify the discovery and user process.
Conclusion
It’s possible that Google+ could build a stronger community through this process and see their platform grow as a provider of great community engagement and discussion. Right now, growth in that sense doesn’t appear to be the focus, maybe in the longer term. Building user-by-user, as opposed to taking significant chunks of attention away from the existing players.