On Nov. 17, 2015, Google announced the introduction of a new, better Google+. The news comes several months after Google announced, in July 2015, that it would be stepping away from the social media market, in order to avoid trying to fulfill the same role as its competitors.
The new Google+ shifts away from a role as a basic social media platform. Instead of giving users a barebones public social media profile, the restructured Google+ focuses on two key, relatively new features of the service: Collections and Communities.
Communities, similar to Facebook’s pages or groups, allow users to connect with individuals who share the same passions and interests with them, in a hope to create more social connection between users, and less micromanagement of an individual’s specific page and social media profile.
Collections allows users to actually group posts into topics, making it easier for readers to search and find content that they find interesting to them, instead of needlessly scrolling through pages of information to track down something that another user shared at one point in time.
The focus on an individual’s interests, instead of a clone of Facebook’s social media profile should allow Google+ to operate in the same vein as popular websites like Pinterest, but with enhanced social functions. Google’s aim is to have Google+ as a dedicated forum for users to discuss their shared interests, while allowing easy integration of Google’s other popular services like Gmail and YouTube.
With the announcement of a change in direction for the social media platform also comes a change in the user interface and design of the service. Google has promised that the new Google+ user interface will be sleeker, cleaner, and more intuitive than ever, while balancing the needs of dedicated users and keeping everything simple enough for new members to jump in.
Director of Streams Eddie Kessler promised a more mobile-friendly and simpler interface that will allow users to take their Google+ experience on the go. The change in direction for Google+ could make it a viable companion for anyone looking to increase their social media presence, while staying connected with all of their Google-based services.
Originally, any individual who had an account using one of Google services, like YouTube or Blogger, automatically had all their Google services linked to a Google+ account. Google changed this standard in July 2015, giving users the option of pairing their Google service accounts with Google+, or simply having Google service exist independently from Google+.
As executives aptly put it, users would be able to “[use] Google without Google+.”
The separation of Google’s standard services from Google+ could have been the final nail in the coffin for Google’s social media platform—a service that’s been akin to a wasteland in comparison to Facebook’s social media metropolis. The new Google+, however, is clearly designed to exist alongside other platforms, instead of being in direct competition with them.