After so many years of promoting Google+ and integrating it with other services, Google realized that Google+ doesn't mean a lot for many Google users and it started dismantling Google+. Google Photos is now a standalone service and other Google+ features will follow suit.

In a blog post, Google announced that Google+ profiles will no longer be required and YouTube will be the first service that will make this change in the coming weeks. "A Google Account will be all you'll need to share content, communicate with contacts, create a YouTube channel and more, all across Google. Your underlying Google Account won't be searchable or followable, unlike public Google+ profiles. And for people who already created Google+ profiles but don't plan to use Google+ itself, we'll offer better options for managing and removing those public profiles."

A lot of YouTube users complained when YouTube switched to a new commenting system which required Google+ profiles, but YouTube comments are much better today. Now YouTube comments will no longer appear on Google+ and Google+ posts that share a YouTube video will no longer be added as YouTube comments. "In the coming weeks, YouTube will no longer require a Google+ profile when you want to upload, comment, or create a channel," mentions the YouTube Blog.

Google reassures users that Google+ will continue to exist and will become "a place where people engage around their shared interests". It's a much smaller goal for a service that used to tie all the other Google services, add unified sharing and identity information. Google+ used to be more than a service, it was a layer that was supposed to make Google products work together.

Here's what Bradley Horowitz said back in 2011:

"Until now, every single Google property acted like a separate company. Due to the way we grew, through various acquisitions and the fierce independence of each division within Google, each product sort of veered off in its own direction. That was dizzying. But Google+ is Google itself. We're extending it across all that we do — search, ads, Chrome, Android, Maps, YouTube — so that each of those services contributes to our understanding of who you are."


Bradley Horowitz is now the Google VP of Streams, Photos, and Sharing. That's "Streams, Photos, and Sharing" and not Google+. Ever since it was launched back in 2011, Google+ meant 2 things: the stream and the sharing platform. It looks like Google+ now focuses on the stream, which was less successful than the sharing platform.

It's not clear how Google+ will continue to exist if Google removes important features like photo sharing and starts to remove the integration with YouTube and other Google services. It just makes it easier for Google to discontinue Google+, now that fewer people will use it.

Here are 2 screenshots that show the importance of Google+ today and a few years ago. Back in 2013, Google changed the navigation bar and added an app launcher: the first shortcut was for Google+.


Google has recently tweaked the app launcher. The first shortcut is now for "My Account", followed by Search, Maps, YouTube, Play, News, Gmail, Drive and Calendar. Google+ is now the 10th shortcut, right next to Google Translate and Google Photos. This is the default app launcher for new users and those that haven't customized it:


Here's the 2013 app launcher for logged-in users:


And the same app launcher today:

Google's notifications box from the navigation bar has a new settings button. For now, it shows only 2 services (Google+, Google Photos) and it lets you enable or disable notifications from Google+ and Google Photos.


Here's a screenshot that shows the option that's currently available: "allow notifications here from Google+". For the first time since Google+ was launched, you can now disable Google+ notifications from the navigation bar.


Google Photos was also added to the settings section. When I first checked the settings, Google+ was the only service available, but Google Photos was added after a few hours. If you enable "Suggest new creations" in Google Photos settings, the Assistant feature will automatically create animations, collages and videos from your library and will trigger notifications.


Maybe in the future Google will show notifications from other Google services: Gmail, Google Calendar, Google Drive, YouTube. The title is now "Google Notifications" instead of "Google+ Notifications".

{ Thanks, Mukil Elango. }

While other Google services remove integration with Google+, Google Translate added a prominent link to its own Google+ page. The Google+ icon is placed next to the Phrasebook icon, at the top of of the page. It will be interesting to see how long it will last.


{ Thanks, Alireza Eskandarpour Shoferi. }

A few weeks ago, Google dropped the Google+ link from the navigation bar. It looks like Google also removed the share button from the navigation bar, so you can no longer use it to share photos, links or create events and polls in Google+. It's just another Google+ feature that's discontinued as Google+ is scaling back.


Here's the missing share panel:


{ Thanks, Sean Leather. }

Jeremy Couch, a reader of this blog, noticed that video Hangouts have a new logo. Instead of the Google+ logo, Hangouts uses the Google logo.


The old logo:


Right now, Hangouts is a Google+ feature and it's also available inside Gmail, Google Inbox and as standalone apps for Chrome, Android and iOS. Maybe Google plans to detach Hangouts from Google+.

{ Thanks, Jeremy. }

Google's navigation bar has a bell icon that shows the number of unread Google+ notifications and lets you read them. Google has recently renamed this section from "Google+ notifications" to "Google notifications" and added a special icon next to Google+ notifications.



Google also shows notifications for YouTube and Blogger, but the main purpose of this feature is to display Google+ notifications. Until now, Google added icons for events and circles, but not for Google+ posts. Maybe the notification section will add support for other Google services.

Here's a screenshot from April:


{ Thanks, Frodo Baggins. }

When you are logged in, Google's navigation bar shows your name next to the app launcher. Until now, Google added a "+" next to the name and linked to Google+. Starting today, Google no longer links to Google+ and the "+" prefix has been removed. You can still find the Google+ shortcut in the app launcher.

It's another change which shows that Google+ will take a back seat and will no longer be promoted as a standalone service.

{ Thanks, Juan. }

Ondřej Pokorný, a reader of this blog, noticed a Google+ notification about a video uploaded to one of his YouTube subscribed channels: It's Okay To Be Smart. It's a YouTube notification and it even has a special icon.


I don't remember seeing notifications like this. Google+ shows notifications when your own YouTube videos receive comments and you can disable this in the settings.

Danny Fratella, Top Contributor for the YouTube Help Center, explains that "the notifications that subscribers get in their Google+ Notifications are based on their previous engagement with your videos and your channel. If YouTube's algorithms notice that they're watching a lot of your content, they're more likely to receive notifications when you upload new videos. There isn't anything you can do to force this notification upon your subscribers."

{ Thanks, Ondřej. ]

Mr. Jingles, the Google+ mascot, has a special look for Earth Day. Just clear all Google+ notifications and you'll see the new Mr. Jingles, which looks like a terrestrial globe. Click the happy face to see the animation.


Here's a bigger version of the animation from Mr. Jingles' Google+ page:

Happy Earth Day!

Google Now shows a new card for Google+ Stories. Google automatically generates stories using the images you upload to Google+ Photos. "Your best photos are automatically chosen and arranged in a fun timeline to show the highlights of your trip or event," explains Google.


Until now, users only received Google+ notifications.

{ Thanks, Angelo Giuffrida. }

For the past 4 years, Google+ was the place where you could find some of the most interesting and innovative Google features. From powerful photo editors to automatically enhanced photos and auto awesome effects, from video conferencing to live streaming, Google+ integrated and upgraded many standalone Google services. Google now wants to set free some of the Google+ features and make them available outside Google+.

Google Drive now lets you browse the photos and videos uploaded to Google+ Photos. There's a new Google Photos section inside Google Drive and it's interesting to point out that the name is Google Photos and not Google+ Photos.

"To get started, just look for the new Photos menu in Drive for Android, iOS and the web. From there you'll be able to manage your photos and videos alongside other types of files. For example, you can now add pictures of wedding venues and cakes to the same Drive folder as your guest list and budget," suggests Google.


You can add Google+ photos and videos to Google Drive folders, print, download, share, delete or rename them.

The new feature is gradually rolled out in Google Drive for the web and the mobile apps, so you may not see it yet.

{ Thanks, David King. }

If you're using the new Google Contacts UI, you probably noticed that Google shows both your contacts and the people from your Google+ circles in one place. The "all contacts" section now also shows Google+ contacts and there's no option to only show non-Google+ contacts.

Fortunately, there's a way to hide the people from your Google+ circles. Google+ has a feature called "your circles" which lets you select which circles you share with. For example, you can add the "Friends" and "Family" circles and quickly share your posts with your favorite circles without having to select them all the time.

"When you share posts, photos, profile data, and other things with 'Your circles,' you're sharing with all of your circles, except the ones you're just following (they're unchecked in this list)," explains Google.


The good news is that Google Contacts only includes the people from "your circles", so you can customize "your circles" and uncheck all of them. This way, the "all contacts" section will only include your contacts. The downside is that the "your circles" option from Google+ will no longer be useful, but you can always manually select your circles.

Google released a preview of the new Google Contacts interface. Powered by Material Design, the new Google Contacts improves some of the existing features: finding duplicates, Google Profile integration, while adding some new features: a list of recent messages, Hangouts sidebar, global search results from Google+. It also merges your contacts with your Google+ circles and no longer uses pagination.


"The new Google Contacts comes with a fresh look and feel, and conveniently pools together all your contacts, circles, and the people you talk to most in Gmail," informs Google. Starred contacts and frequently contacted people are placed at the top of the page, followed by your entire address book, which now includes your Google+ circles. You can customize "your circles" and exclude one or more Google+ circles.


Google Contacts now finds duplicates automatically and offers to merge all of them. You can dismiss some of the suggestions and better assess if they are actually duplicates.


When you click a contact, Google now opens a card overlay with a bigger picture and more information from the Google Profile page. Google also shows the most recent email conversations and meetings with that person.


The search feature now includes results from Google+. The first results are from your contact list ("personal results"), while the following results are from Google+ ("global results").


Some features aren't available yet in the new Google Contacts: importing/exporting contacts, restoring contacts, printing contacts, keyboard shortcuts. You can still find them in the old version of Google Contacts. For now, the new Google Contacts is not available for Google Apps users.

The new interface can be found at contacts.google.com/preview/all and it will be added to Gmail's contact manager over the next few weeks. You can also open Google Contacts and click "Try Contacts preview" in the left sidebar.

How to go back to the old interface? Expand the "more" section and click "Leave the Contacts preview".

{ Thanks, Daniel Sadavoy. }

Google+ celebrates the Lunar New Year with a special costume for Mr. Jingles, the friendly Google+ mascot. "Countries across Asia are beginning Lunar New Year celebrations to welcome in the year of the sheep. In China, hundreds of millions of people are travelling home in what is considered the world's biggest annual human migration. State media says about three billion passenger trips will be made by plane, train and car over the 40-day period," reports BBC.


Here's the animated version:


There's also a Google doodle for Lunar New Year. Google uses an animation which illustrates that 2015 is the Year of the Sheep (sheep, goat or ram, since there's a single Chinese word for all of them).

When you go to a channel, YouTube's desktop site now shows a list of people who subscribed to that channel and they're also in your Google+ circles. For example, YouTube lists 3 people from my Google+ circles who subscribed to the TED channel.


If you haven't subscribed to the channel, YouTube shows a similar list with people who "already subscribed" (instead of "also subscribed").


If you click a thumbnail, YouTube sends you to the Google+ profile page.

{ Thanks, Anthony. }

Mr. Jingles, the Google+ mascot, looks different today. He has a cute rose to celebrate Valentine's Day. You can find the funny animation in the Google+ notification box: in Google+ for desktop, Google+ mobile apps and most Google services.


Here's the animation:


When click the +1 button, Google+ shows some animated hearts:


You can also check last year's Easter Egg for Valentine's Day and today's Google doodles.


"Whether a time for a romantic date, to catch up with friends, or catch up on cat videos, Valentine's Day is a good excuse to connect with the world around you. As nerds, the doodle team wanted to sweeten up our homepage with ways in which technology brings people together," explains Google.

The reCAPTCHA team also celebrates Valentine's Day with a special CAPTCHA:


{ Thanks, Fred. }

Mr. Jingles has some new Christmas lights. Open the Google+ notifications pane in Google+ and in many other Google services, mark as read all the notifications and click the bell icon to see the lights.


"All these colorful lights should surely help Santa find me," says Mr. Jingles.

Here's the animation:


And here are last year's festive costumes. Merry Christmas!

The new icon for Google+ notifications is not the only change: previously read notifications can only be found in Google+, which now has a notifications sidebar. "Use the tray on the right to browse through your Google+ notifications," informs Google.


You can pick between all notifications, unread notifications or other notifications. When you click a notification, Google sends you to the Google+ post, Blogger post or YouTube video and doesn't show a preview inline.


Here's the notifications tray from Google's navigation bar. "Looking for your previously read Google+ notifications? They can now be found in Google+," informs Google.


Showing two bell icons is confusing. I'm not sure why previously read notifications were removed from Google's navigation bar. Maybe Google wants to drive more traffic to Google+.

Update: Google switched back to the old interface. "We’ve realized that there were a few shortcomings in the new desktop Google+ notification tray, so we're reverting back to the original notifications experience for now," says Balaji Srinivasan, from Google.

{ Thanks, Neil Capper. }

There's a new Google+ notification icon in Google's navigation bar. When you have one or more notifications, Google only shows the red circle, which is now bigger.


If you don't have notifications, you'll see this new bell icon:


Here's the old bell icon:


{ Thanks, Alfredo Hernández. }