If you were one of the few people who frequently used the Circle sharing feature on Google+ then you’ve likely noticed that Google removed the feature earlier this week. Strangely, Google hasn’t given a reason as to why the feature was silently taken out. However, it’s speculated that very few users were actually legitimately using the Circle sharing. Instead, Google was likely finding that those who did often use it were actually spamming constantly resulting in a frustrating cluttered feed.
We don’t often hear about the statistics about Google+ anymore. In fact, Marketing Land reported that 300 million users were active on Google+ back in 2013 but has since been quiet on if that number has risen or lowered. Nevertheless, Google is pushing on to further innovate and offer their own social media option for users around the world. Google has made some recent changes to Google+. One of these brand new features that recently rolled out is called Collections. Through Collections, users were able to create their own groups of interest, photos among various other content media like links and videos. Circle sharing is similar to Twitter lists and Facebook groups. Users can pin together other users into a group known as a Circle. Content provided from within these Circle users will show up in your feed though you can also share the Circle to showcase content that others might find of interest. Lately, the result has been users constantly requesting others to share the content within the Circle which made more spam type posts showing up within various user feeds.
Collections are one of the reasons Google likely axed Circle sharing. Because the feature was being abused by several users, this left Google with a decent reason to take out and remove the sharing option completely. However, it’s important to note that Collections offer a similar function. What separates Collections and Circle sharing is that Collections only shares the content and not necessarily the user. Google has still yet to state the official reason as to why they got rid of a Circle sharing. Also, with Collections being completely new to Google+, it’s unknown how well users will enjoy and use the brand new feature options.
