News has spread this week that Google + will be signing off for the last time in the upcoming months.
What happened?
The social media channel that has sparked great friendships, business ideas and marketing efforts has seen a great decline in user engagement over the last few years, with 90% of recent user sessions reaching less than 5 seconds. Not only was poor engagement a key contributing factor, Google also had a huge data breach to contend with, as a security breach saw the data of thousands of users being easily handed over to third parties.
What went wrong?
Pairing low user involvement and a huge hit in data protection has seen the platform being removed from existence. It has been a great tool to use over the years, allowing users to post great content from blogs to images and questions to discussions. However, as the years progressed and having no real unique selling point when up against social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, it began to fall by the way side, leaving them with a real fuzzy view of who their audience was and who could benefit.
A light at the end of the tunnel…
Not all is lost for businesses who used this channel however, as one of their other tools Google My Business, is a great way of getting your brand found and reaching out to users online.
With Google + taking its final bow, we wonder what the future will hold for other existing platforms as they fight to maintain abidance by data protection laws , or not as the case was with Facebook’s Cambridge Analytica scandal. This will definitely be an area to keep our eyes on, as users’ privacy online becomes evermore paramount.
For further insights and guidance, we invite you to explore our blog at 07hm.co.uk/blog. Here, you’ll find a wealth of information tailored to the needs and challenges of SMEs navigating the digital landscape. Additionally, if you have specific questions or need personalised advice, don’t hesitate to reach out to us via email at info@07hm.co.uk or telephone on 01702 410663.
