Vic Gundotra, vice president of Google’s social business and head of Google+, recently announced his official resignation from Google. It is worth noting that sources revealed that this person's departure heralds that this product, which is considered to be Google's attempt to shake up the social network industry dominated by Facebook, has begun to die.

 

Google + (hereinafter referred to as G +) is a "platform" social application launched by Google in 2011. Its most prominent feature is the "circle" function. Simply put, it allows users to interact with friends in different circles that they set. Since then, Google has integrated “Hangouts” into G+, making it a Google social platform with multiple functions of SNS and mobile IM.

 

As a giant that acquires, provides, and monetizes data, Google’s purpose in getting involved in the social field is self-evident. Unfortunately, G+ confuses users because of the redundant and complex product design. Although Google officially claims that the current number of monthly active users of G+ has exceeded 540 million (as of October last year), data from third-party survey agencies show that G+ can be called a "social desert." Not only that, in order to promote G+, Google has successively connected its account system with Youtube (of course, there are other reasons for doing so) and other "forced integration" behaviors, which has caused dissatisfaction among users.