I was going to write a post about the changes Google made within the last few weeks and what’s coming in the near future, but there is already some great info available so I will share the best posts I found.
The big change is the reorganizing into a holding company called Alphabet. What we know as “Google” will be one company within the broader organization, and other projects will now be separated under the Alphabet umbrella.
Bloomberg analyzed this change.
“What’s best for shareholders and what’s best for innovation aren’t always the same” – @Neil_Irwin #GoogleAlphabet https://t.co/WkPZeHaZoV
— Erik Brynjolfsson (@erikbryn) August 12, 2015
BMW owns https://t.co/dKcKEONVOC and it’s not selling it to Google https://t.co/g9ocppehPv #mashable
— Bob Untz (@UntzUntzWubWub) August 11, 2015
Google plus is splitting up with YouTube. On the Google blog they said on Monday, July 27… in the coming months, a Google Account will be all you’ll need to share content, communicate with contacts, create a YouTube channel and more, all across Google. YouTube will be one of the first products to make this change, and you can learn more on their blog. As always, your underlying Google Account won’t be searchable or followable, unlike public Google+ profiles.
The Verge has a thorough post that explains what we can expect.
Google Local has made some changes as well. Google began switching over the usual 7-pack local listings to all 3-pack local results. This means that instead of showing 7 businesses in the pack and in the map, those spots are now only available to 3 businesses. And they have removed addresses, phones and Google+ lnks.
TheSemPost details all of the changes and what it means to local business.
Though some think these changes mean the death of Google+ Columnist Mark Traphagen believes this is incorrect and that the changes simply mean a more focused reincarnation of the platform.
The New Google Plus: Will Tighter Focus Lead To Success?
Recently appointed Bradley Horowitz had this to say in a comment on the recent post by Google on it’s blog. “What does this mean for Google+ the product? Relieved of the notion of integrating with every other product at Google, Google+ can now focus on doing what it’s already doing quite well: helping millions of users around the world connect around the interest they love.”
Everything in its right place
My two cents I believe that Google Plus will become more focused on the Social aspects of the platform. With mobile usage becoming so prevalent and more and more traffic being driven through social rather than desktop search it is important that Google plus stay in the social game. Based on comments on the Google blog posts many Google evangelists are not happy with the changes. Change is not comfortable but is often necessary.
I am certain there will be more changes to come, Google always keeping us marketers on our toes.