Google Takes The Axe To Buzz And Others, Focuses On Google+

Teni Sow | October 14, 2011 | 0 Comments

CORRECTION: An earlier version of this post incorrectly stated that Google planned to kill off its iGoogle service. Google will shutter only the social aspects of iGoogle. According to Google, “iGoogle itself, and non-social iGoogle applications, will stay as they are.”
PREVIOUSLY: Google announced a “fall sweep” on October 14, detailing the shuttering of several products, including Google Buzz, the company’s controversial attempt at a social network.

Bradley Horowitz, Google VP of product, wrote the following in a post on the Official Google Blog:
In a few weeks we’ll shut down Google Buzz and the Buzz API, and focus instead on Google+. While people obviously won’t be able to create new posts after that, they will be able to view their existing content on their Google Profile, and download it using Google Takeout.
Announced early in 2010, Google Buzz was initially built into the Gmail platform in an attempt to let users connect and share content with their contacts across many Google-owned properties such as Picasa, Blogger and Gchat, as well as non-Google products like Twitter and Flickr. The venture, however, failed to take off. Shortly after Buzz launched, users discovered a privacy flaw that potentially exposed their frequently-emailed Gmail contacts. The service never recovered from the controversy.

Horowitz also wrote on October 14 that Google will kill another social service, Jaiku, as well as the social features of its personalized homepage feature, iGoogle, as the company continues to hone its focus on its growing social network, Google+. However, Horowitz clarified that “iGoogle itself, and non-social iGoogle applications, will stay as they are.” These changes will take effect on January 15, 2012.

Since the launch of Google+, the company been hard at work streamlining its sweeping portfolio of online products. In September, Google said it would end 10 services–namely Desktop, Notebook, Fast Flip and Aardvark–as part of its incremental shutdown of Google Labs, a collection of experimental services. Over the summer, Mash able reported that Google planned to kill off its hugely popular Blogger and Picasa brands.

In an earnings call on October 13, Google CEO Larry Page said that 40 million users had signed up for Google+ accounts.

Visit the Official Google Blog to find out what else Google has placed on the chopping block in its “fall sweep.”

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