Yesterday the NY Times reported that Google will be shutting down Google+, apparently in 2019. Google also announced this in a blog post the same day (October 8th). Apparently there was a security breach back in March (that was not reported to users). The feeling at Google is that the service is not used enough to justify the expense of maintaining it. I can't say I blame them, it really never panned out and certainly never approached a fraction of the impact that Facebook ever had. And these security problems with social media sites are only going to get worse. I doubt any of the companies that offer them have the ability to keep up with security threats. The best they seem to be able to do is react when an event happens, and frankly that's no way to go about controlling any enterprise. And it's no way to control security.
I do have a Google+ account, but I never really used it, at least not the way I think they'd hope I'd use it. I do have a few "followers" but I really have no idea why. I don't follow anyone myself. Groucho Marx once said, "I refuse to join any club that would have me as a member." I kinda have that same feeling. I wouldn't advise following anyone who would follow me. I'm actually quite directionless, so follow me at your own risk. This all applies to my personal account, which I guess is linked to my e-mail address (I couldn't figure out that "Circles" thing when they first offered it and I gave up on it rather quickly). Perhaps people just selected "Follow" when they had an e-mail conversation with me, without really knowing what they were doing.
Anyway, I did open a "Brand Account," as Google calls it (I think it's targeted to businesses) for this blog. And I have found that useful. Each post was posted to the blog's Google+ page when it was published. I thought that that was a good thing. It kind of acted like a searchable table of contents for the blog. I used it myself in that way. I also would add links to articles from around the web, mostly regarding genealogy and DNA testing type topics, that I thought readers of the blog might find interesting as well, and so that I could also easily find them again in the future. And through the Google+ page I do follow one other blog, Jody Lutter's Family History Research blog, just because I think it's very well done and I've learned a thing or two from it (you can also find it to the under My Blog List). So, I guess I'll have to figure out another way to follow it. Which brings me to the final point -
If you are one of those that does follow Brouwer Genealogy through the Google+ page, you - all 21 of you (I know, quite the following, and after being online since 2011 that averages to three new followers a year!) - will, if you are still so inclined to follow this blog, have to switch to another method of following. One such method might be to just follow through the Follow button found under followers (to the right, scroll down). There are 29 followers there, and I don't know how, or why this is different from the Google+ following, but apparently it is, and I assume that that option is not being "retired," as Google usually puts it. You can also follow by e-mail, which means you'll be sent an e-mail alert whenever a new post is generated. "Follow by Email" is right above the "Followers" button.
I guess this all comes down sometime in 2019, not sure exactly when in 2019, but until then I will still add new posts to the Google+ page. All in all, it's probably not that big a deal. Now, if they ever "retire" Blogger, that'll be something else (but we won't worry about that now). And since I brought this issue of following up, and since I haven't done this yet - Thank you to all those who do follow, I appreciate it. It makes me feel that taking the time to do this is worth it, and I hope at least some things on these pages have been of help. And thank you too, to all of those who have helped me and contributed in the past. You're help has been a part of this blog, and it too is appreciated. Good luck going forward.
December 10, 2018 update - Google+ shutdown moved up to April 2019.
BGB 610
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