Google's annual invite-only developer conference, Google I/O, kicks off with a total of 80 sessions on the agenda. In what may be the most glaringly obvious sign to date that the social platform has failed, none of those sessions focus on Google+.
We recently reported on speculation that Google+ was failing, after reading a Techcrunch report that claimed Google was planning to move 1000-1200 employees from its three-year-old social network to other divisions- mainly its thriving Android mobile platform. The news followed the resignation Vic Gundotra, one of the chief architects of the Google+ project.
Google’s annual invite-only developer conference, Google I/O, kicks off today with a total of 80 sessions on the agenda. In what may be the most glaringly obvious sign that the social platform has failed to date, none of those sessions focus on Google+.
Google’s social network is totally absent from this year’s I/O agenda, in contrast to last year where there was an entire two-day track at the conference dedicated to Google+, including 15 sessions related to the social networking service.
When asked about the omission by Mashable, a Google spokesperson said there are fewer sessions this year, and that Google+ didn’t fit as well into I/O’s three main themes: design, develop and distribute.
“To that end, our content and sessions aren’t necessarily focused around specific products (G+ versus Android versus Chrome) but more generally about how Google can help you as a developer enrich the experience for your users and grow your audience, with tools at every step of the development process…. Google+ is of course an important component to that, you can see it in topics like identity (Google+ sign-in) and our gaming platform, like Google Play game services.”
Those who can’t attend can watch the live stream of the conference here.
You guys must be pretty hard up for news if you have to go around recycling this sort of rubbish. Google+ won’t be going away anytime soon, but it does not need emphasis in this year’s I/O – it did need it last year – because the themes they are focusing on are different. They have their hands full with “L”, Wear, Cars, IoT, and, if you hadn’t noticed, “Androme” – the gradual merging of their two current platforms, upon both of which G+ sits rather nicely.
Hey Howard, thanks for your comment. Even if Google+ isn’t going away any time soon, we’re really interested to know which direction it’s going in. Yes – the service doesn’t need emphasis this year, but it’s quite remarkable that a platform used by so many isn’t really being featured at all, and the connotations for us are that Google+ is on the backbench.