Ex Google+ Engineer Says It's Clear That The Product Is Over As A Social Network

Nicholas CarlsonFormer Google+ engineer Danny Chrichton says that the product has ultimately failed as a social network, he wrote on TechCrunch earlier today.

This comes following a report that Google+ will become less of a social product and more of a platform in light of Vic Gundotra stepping down.

Google has denied the death of Google+, saying that Gundotra's departure has no affect on its Google+ strategy.

To succeed Gundotra, Google somewhat shockingly selected VP of Engineering Dave Besbris to take the lead at Google+.

'This is striking, since he was selected over the head of product, Bradley Horowitz,' Chrichton writes. 'This decision should make it clear to everyone that Google+'s time as a user-centric social network is over.'

Google+ is widely seen as a failed social network. Early on, even Google+ team members wondered why anyone would use the product.

Right in line with how everyday people feel about Google+ integration, Google Picasa team members were irritated by it.

'I still remember talking to a member of the Picasa team who told me to 'f*** off' when I asked about integrating Google+ into the product,' Chrichton writes. 'He was hardly the only one, as any number of company-wide emails from engineers could attest.'

Though, it seems that Google might scrap the mandatory Google+ integration with its other products.

Two years ago, Google+ had about 7 million daily active users, according to The Wall Street Journal. Meanwhile Facebook reported over 802 million daily active users in its recent quarter.

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