Google has pulled support for Buzz, its last failed social-networking attempt.
Launched in 2010, Buzz integrated social-networking features into Gmail – but Google angered users by turning it on by default, raising security concerns for some.
While the system never won mainstream support, it cost Google millions, as the firm was ordered to pay $8.5 million to privacy groups to make up for its mistakes.
Changing the world takes focus on the future, and honesty about the past
Now, as part of new CEO Larry Page’s company streamlining plans, Google has said Buzz will be closed.
“In a few weeks we’ll shut down Google Buzz and the Buzz API, and focus instead on Google+,” said vice-president of products, Bradley Horowitz, in a post on the Google blog. “While people obviously won’t be able to create new posts after that, they will be able to view their existing content on their Google Profile, and download it using Google Takeout.”
The move comes amid questions about how many users its new social network Google+ has won, and controversy over its “real name” policy that doesn’t allow pseudonyms.
“Changing the world takes focus on the future, and honesty about the past,” said Horowitz. “We learned a lot from products like Buzz, and are putting that learning to work every day in our vision for products like Google+.”
The company also announced that on 15 January it will shut down its Code Search system, update service Jaiku, the social features on personalised search page iGoogle, and a project targeted at giving university researchers API access to its search results.
“To succeed you need real focus and thought — thought about what you work on and, just as important, what you don’t work on,” Horowitz added.
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