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I think Google closed Google+ because it worked as social media and they couldn't find better ways to exploit users.

by pks016 7mo ago

raphar 7mo ago
Fools, they lost a source of very valuable training data.
- nelsonic 7mo ago
  Nope. Google+ was a ghost town. They made the right call to shut it down and focus their efforts on YouTube. The videos and comments on YT are superb training data, every bit as good as Google+ was. In 2025, YouTube’s total revenue (advertising + subscriptions like YouTube Premium and TV) surpassed $60 billion. If they spun out YT it would have a market cap $500-600bn putting it in the top 20 companies. Google+ would never have been worth much as the 7th most popular social network.
  - shwaj 7mo ago
    The videos are good training data, but the comments? The comment UX is so non-conducive to discussion, and the general quality is very low compared to what used to be on Google+ (to be fair, the self-selected users of Google+ were not representative of the general population).
  - freehorse 7mo ago
    > comments on YT are superb training data This I find hard to believe. Most YT comments are just noise. Even the UX of writing comments in YT is just terrible. Comments randomly appear and disappear, and you are never sure if it is some yt algorithm, a technical issue or specific moderation practice. I am pretty sure if they valued yt comments as data, they would have put a bit more effort into that side of their platform.
  - pks016 7mo ago
    Ghost town was the best part, for users like me. I didn't want another fb or insta. The circles and community were great.
pndy 7mo ago
Oh they tried to - in a simple "please fill out the form" way. I'll link to my prev comment: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46425198#46429370 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46425198#46429370 IIRC they tried at some point incorporating G+ on youtube but that didn't work either
- pks016 7mo ago
  That's true. I was much younger back then to notice about privacy. Yeah, it was pretty bad incorporating G+ account to everything. The way the G+ worked (at least in my friend circle), normal people had less business there. It was very hobby focused.

I think Google closed Google+ because it worked as social media and they couldn't find better ways to exploit users.

by pks016 7mo ago

I think Google closed Google+ because it worked as social media and they couldn't find better ways to exploit users.

raphar 7mo ago

Fools, they lost a source of very valuable training data.

nelsonic 7mo ago
Nope. Google+ was a ghost town. They made the right call to shut it down and focus their efforts on YouTube. The videos and comments on YT are superb training data, every bit as good as Google+ was. In 2025, YouTube’s total revenue (advertising + subscriptions like YouTube Premium and TV) surpassed $60 billion. If they spun out YT it would have a market cap $500-600bn putting it in the top 20 companies. Google+ would never have been worth much as the 7th most popular social network.
- shwaj 7mo ago
  The videos are good training data, but the comments? The comment UX is so non-conducive to discussion, and the general quality is very low compared to what used to be on Google+ (to be fair, the self-selected users of Google+ were not representative of the general population).
- freehorse 7mo ago
  > comments on YT are superb training data This I find hard to believe. Most YT comments are just noise. Even the UX of writing comments in YT is just terrible. Comments randomly appear and disappear, and you are never sure if it is some yt algorithm, a technical issue or specific moderation practice. I am pretty sure if they valued yt comments as data, they would have put a bit more effort into that side of their platform.
- pks016 7mo ago
  Ghost town was the best part, for users like me. I didn't want another fb or insta. The circles and community were great.

pndy 7mo ago

Oh they tried to - in a simple "please fill out the form" way. I'll link to my prev comment: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46425198#46429370 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46425198#46429370 IIRC they tried at some point incorporating G+ on youtube but that didn't work either

pks016 7mo ago
That's true. I was much younger back then to notice about privacy. Yeah, it was pretty bad incorporating G+ account to everything. The way the G+ worked (at least in my friend circle), normal people had less business there. It was very hobby focused.