Redditor Gets Nostalgic About Time When Google+ 'Used To Be My Instagram' — But Was It Really?

A Reddit user's post about their fond memories of using Alphabet Inc.'s GOOG GOOG Google+ as a social media platform has sparked a debate on the internet. 

What Happened: A Redditor, who goes by the name Intruder on the platform, shared an old email saying that as a kid, Google+ "used to be my Instagram."

The email he referred to was dated March 2019, in which the tech giant informed users that on April 2, 2019, Google+ would be shut down. 

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Interestingly, commenters were divided over the Redditor's sentiments, seemingly suggesting that Google+ was as good as Meta Platforms Inc.'s META Instagram. 

Some users said that Google+ had the potential "to be great," while others highlighted that the tech giant took the "whole concept of ‘exclusivity' too literally, especially for a social network."

One Reddit user said it might be the time for a big player like Google to "relaunch a social media platform" because people have gotten tired of platforms like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. "And TikTok isn't really a platform for friends to connect."

Why It's Important: Google+ was shut down in April 2019 due to "low usage" and "security concerns" caused by two significant data leaks that could have potentially exposed information for tens of millions of users to outside developers, according to The Verge. 

Google+ was launched in 2011, but the company later admitted that user growth and mainstream adoption of the platform fell short of the tech giant's expectations and ultimately led to its ultimate shutdown. 

Google also previously owned and operated Orkut, a social networking website. It was very popular in Brazil and India, but never gained as much traction in other parts of the world. The website allowed users to create profiles, join and create communities, and send messages to other users. It was shut down on Sept. 30, 2014, due to a lack of user engagement and the rise of other social media platforms.

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