Requiem for Google+

By now you’ve probably heard that Google is shutting down its failed attempt at a social network in Google+. Yes, your joke about how you thought it was already shut down is quite clever and original. You’re the Will Rogers of our time. Anyway, Google decided to shutter the service in the next year or so after the Wall Street Journal reported about a massive data breach which Google knew about last March. You can read more about that here, but I digress.

I’ve come not bury Google+ but to praise it. Although I haven’t used Google+ on a regular basis in quite some time, I was more fond of it than I was of Facebook or Twitter. To me, Twitter and Facebook are necessary evils in the world of content creation. If you want to get your content out, you have to post in on Facebook or Twitter if you want anybody to see it since many people’s internet routines revolve around one of those two networks. Whenever I go to one of those two services I usually groan at most of the verbal refuse that’s been posted there. That’s usually followed up with massive amounts of muting and unfollowing.

While it wasn’t designed this way by the lords of search, I found Google+ to be more about quality over quantity, more substance than style, and it was often a treat to engage in discussion on Google+. I felt that Google+ was more tech and geek-friendly without devolving into fanboy shouting matches. I could ask questions I had about Linux and get helpful and pleasant responses. I could talk about comic books without the discussion turning directly to politics. In essence, Google+ was the anti-Facebook and I will miss that from when Google+ was at its height. Sadly, like most things that aren’t Facebook, most Google+ users gave up on the network a long time ago, myself included. However, when you’ve been o the internet as long as I have, you kind of get used to your favorite services either shutting down, being bought out, or just not succeeding.

Here’s hoping the day will come again when a service succeeds where we can all be civil to each other.