Google is known as one of the most promising innovators of the tech world. From developing an AI assistant to a cloud storage platform, the search engine giant has been credited with producing many innovative products and services. However, the company has also had its fair share of disruptions — it has retired some of its features and products due to market saturation or low popularity. Let’s take a look at some of the Google products that are now at the Google graveyard.
Google+, Google’s first foray into the social networking space, was launched in 2011. The service struggled to find its place among more popular networks, such as Facebook and Twitter, and it was ultimately discontinued in April of 2019. The decision was mandated by a security issue involving a bug in a feature called “people API,” which exposed personal data from 52 million users.
Google Buzz was an attempt by the tech giant to mobilize the blogging revolution. Buzz, an integrated part of Gmail at the time, allowed users to make posts, comment, like and share content with their Google contacts. Unfortunately, it couldn’t stand the test of time as signal-to-noise ratio dropped as more people started using it, and it was eventually retired in 2012.
Google Reader, the go-to resource for RSS feed content, is no longer available. Launched back in 2005, Reader allowed users to subscribe to their favorite websites and blogs to get relevant content directly in their Google Reader page. Despite being hugely popular among tech-savvy individuals, the product was discontinued in 2013 in favor of other offerings from Google.
Having troubles finding a recipe for that special dish? Well, don’t worry — you won’t have to search for an alternative recipe on Google. In July of 2019, Google announced that it was shutting down Recipe View, a feature that allowed users to search for recipes and reviews from restaurants. The feature was shut down due to the lack of usage.
These are just a few of the products that have been laid to rest in the Google graveyard. The company has also retired several other products, such as Google Health, Google SideWiki, Google Video, and Knol. Google’s decision to retire some features reflects its commitment to developing products and services that are useful and which keep up with the changing times. However, with the ever-increasing competition, it is likely that we will see more Google products going the way of the Google graveyard in the future.