These Are My Reasons Why I Hated Google Plus And Glad It’s Closing

By Nathan Young on April 2, 2019

Today is the final day for Google Plus. Google has begun deleting all the Google Plus accounts, and I say good riddance. Yes, I did have a Google Plus account, but I barely used it. Google tried to make their Google Plus service popular, but it never gained any traction. So, I wanted to talk about why I am glad Google Plus is no more.

Google Forcing Our Usernames

After Google Plus launched, it allowed an option to select a vanity username. You know, the name after the .com. The thing is, Google hand-picked our usernames for us. I wanted to use my /nvyoung, since I use this on my other social media sites. But Google said no, and chose +NathanYoung44 instead. They were also forcing this new username on YouTube as well. Thankfully I can still use the username I selected when I started my YouTube.

Forcing Google Plus On YouTube

The comment section on YouTube can be interesting. Then Google came along and forced us to use our Google Plus accounts to comment or like/dislike on YouTube. I did not want this! Sure, I did share my newest YouTube uploads to my Google Plus, but sometimes I wanted to comment on a video in peace and not worry my comments would be linked to my Google Plus.

Google Plus Lack Of A API

I use services like Buffer App to share and schedule my social media posts ahead of time. For a long time, there was no options to use third-party apps on Google Plus. And this might have been one horrible move. Sure, API eventually came to Google Plus and I could use Buffer App to share posts, but it was too little too late.

Other Social Media Sites Not Embracing Google Plus

I run multiple social media accounts across different services. So for example, if I wanted to upload a new picture to Instagram, there was no option to share to Google Plus. The same goes for other services like WordPress, although a way to share to Google Plus did come, but it was too late for Google Plus to survive.

Google Plus Security Scares

I wonder how safe Google Plus was after all? We heard about those security scares that forced Google Plus to shut down early. The thing is, was Google Plus secure the whole time? Is Google not telling us something about a security scare that happened in the earlier days of Google Plus? Yeah, people want their information safe.

The thing is, I will not miss Google Plus. It was forced upon us. It was not as popular. It was too clunky and half the time people did not know what to do with it. I kind of wished Google never developed Google Plus in the first place. But, lesson learned I guess.

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