Google finds Vulnerability in G+ API. Sunsets G+ in response.

[wraith808]

The most damning thing?

Google did not initially disclose a Google+ security bug when it first discovered it this spring because it feared regulatory scrutiny and reputational damage, according to a Wall Street Journal report citing documents and people briefed on the incident.

(from https://www.cnbc.com...s-of-plus-users.html)

Google is shutting down Google+, a social media service it launched in 2011 that few people used. Google made the announcement the same day that the Wall Street Journal published a story about a bug in the unpopular social media service that allowed outside developers to access users private data. According to The Wall Street Journal, Google first learned about the breach in March of 2018, but quietly patched the bug and decided not to tell anyone for fear of a regulatory backlash.

(from https://motherboard....g-exposed-user-infoc)

Google's statement can be found on its blog at https://www.blog.goo...rity/project-strobe/

G+ was actually the only social network that I used.  I liked the fact that even though I didn't trust Google, they didn't really require much to register.  My account used was a throwaway account, so the security breach didn't matter.  I also liked the fact that they were pretty open with communities, for those times that I really didn't feel like signing up for yet another forum to discuss another niche subject.
 Facebook requires you to sign up to see anything and requires your personal data, so I have a different feeling towards them.  As a result, I had several communities that I used on G+, but avoided any on Facebook.

I know that it never really caught on... did anyone else use G+?

[Deozaan]

Interesting news.

I know that it never really caught on... did anyone else use G+?

-wraith808 (October 08, 2018, 03:18 PM)

I used it a lot when it was new, and tried to get others I knew to join me there (or forced them to if they wanted to see my posts/pictures/whatever). But I've hardly touched it for the past 2-3 years or more.

At this point the news of it shutting down can only make me respond with "it's about time."

[wraith808]

Interesting news.

I know that it never really caught on... did anyone else use G+?

-wraith808 (October 08, 2018, 03:18 PM)

I used it a lot when it was new, and tried to get others I knew to join me there (or forced them to if they wanted to see my posts/pictures/whatever). But I've hardly touched it for the past 2-3 years or more.

At this point the news of it shutting down can only make me respond with "it's about time."

-Deozaan (October 08, 2018, 04:25 PM)

What real alternative is there, though?  If you want to do the whole social networking but don't want to give all of your info?  A couple of my communities created FB groups, but... FB.  A couple of others were mentioned... WeMo, Mastadon, Discord, Slack... but they all seem to be different animals.  The only real thing for public communities that opposed it was pretty much G+.

[Deozaan]

You don't have to give a lot of personal information for Facebook. But they'll datamine it out of everyone they can based on your friends and tagged posts, etc.

That said, your use case seems to be different than mine. I was never really into any of the public communities. They never held much personal worth to me.

[Shades]

Same here, tried to like it when it was new. But lost interest in social media completely, not just Google+. Visiting my Facebook and linkedIn profiles I do once or twice a year. I do not even have bothered to create accounts for the other socials.

Following Will Wheaton on Google+ (for his youtube channel 'Table Top') was fun for a while. But as I said, lost interest completely. Ah well, at least one icon will be removed from Android... :p

[IainB]

Google have probably been looking for an excuse to kill off the failed G+ Beta for some time now, without further upsetting the residual users. This "vulnerability" may well present a timely and convenient justification for doing that.

[Edvard]

What real alternative is there, though?  If you want to do the whole social networking but don't want to give all of your info?  A couple of my communities created FB groups, but... FB.  A couple of others were mentioned... WeMo, Mastadon, Discord, Slack... but they all seem to be different animals.  The only real thing for public communities that opposed it was pretty much G+.

-wraith808 (October 08, 2018, 04:51 PM)

Kind of a 'techy' alternative (they encourage you to set up your own "pod" to interact with), but the Diaspora Project is like a social network where you (or somebody you trust) holds the keys to the gateway.
Lots of people have posted about it here on DC, mostly mentioning it in passing, but here's a link:

https://diasporafoundation.org/

Welcome to diaspora*
The online social world where you are in control
diaspora* is based on three key philosophies:

• Decentralization
  Instead of everyone’s data being held on huge central servers owned by a large organization, diaspora* exists on independently run servers (“pods”) all over the world. You choose which pod to register with, and you can then connect seamlessly with the diaspora* community worldwide.
• Freedom
  You can be whoever you want to be in diaspora*. Unlike some networks, you don’t have to use your real identity. You can interact with people in whatever way you choose. The only limit is your imagination. diaspora* is also Free Software, giving you liberty over how you use it.
• Privacy
  In diaspora* you own your data. You don’t sign over rights to a corporation or other interest who could use it. In addition, you choose who sees what you share, using Aspects. With diaspora*, your friends, your habits, and your content is your business ... not ours!

Looks like you can cross-post your Diaspora posts to Twitter, Tumblr and WordPress, which is nice I guess.  I signed up forever or two ago, and now I don't even remember what 'pod' I signed up with.  I've also been off Facebook for about a year and a half.  If I want to know what's going on in people's lives, I have their phone number (the ones that matter, at least). 
Anyway, there you go.  YMMV.

*I don't know what the asterisk is for, but apparently it's part of the name; "diaspora*" not "Diaspora". :shrug:

[IainB]

@Edvard: Thanks for the diaspora* link.   
I had forgotten about that. It seemed to be a bit "early days" before, but it rather looks like it might have matured somewhat by now. Musthavalook.

[wraith808]

There are actually several alternatives showing up, or that I'm becoming aware of, and I'm trying a lot of them.

A few that I've tried and notes:

MeWe	http://www.mewe.com	Your profile is not viewable unless you send/confirm a friend request. Centrally owned.  Has both public and private communities.
Diaspora*	http://www.diasporafoundation.org	Does not have communities.  Each pod is individually owned.  I'm currently on http://www.pluspora.com. More on the way that the decentralization works can be found at https://pluspora.com...0136b7d300505608f9fe
Hubzilla	http://www.hubzilla.org	Similar to diaspora in that it is decentralized community run by individuals in a network.  I think it has communities, though I've just started.  I'm currently on http://start.hubzilla.org
Cake	http://www.cake.co	Different than most social networks, you follow topics and conversations rather than people.  Centrally owned.  Does not have communities.

Those are all of the ones that I'm currently looking at- most active on Pluspora and MeWe.  I also signed up for Mastodon and Minds, but haven't really given them enough of a try to fairly comment.

There's also an open document of G+ Alternatives: https://docs.google....U52sTYbrI/edit#gid=0

So while it's still a bit sad to me that Google is killing plus, it's also been a real learning experience on alternatives.

[KynloStephen66515]

I had been wondering for years if they were ever gonna shut down G+.  Not going to miss it (personally) as it was just horrific to use.

[Deozaan]

A new Google+ security flaw was found, so Google is advancing the shutdown date from August 2019 to April 2019.

Google is shutting down its beleaguered social network sooner than expected in the wake of a new security issue that affected 52.5 million users.

Google Plus received its initial kiss of death in early October, when the company revealed that a security bug had exposed the account information of 500,000 users, including their names, email addresses and occupations. At the time, Google planned to shut down the social network by August 2019.

But in a blog post Monday Google wrote that it discovered a second bug that allowed the profile information of 52.5 million users to be viewable by developers, even if it was set to private, using one of Google’s application programming interfaces, or APIs, for six days in November. Once again, the available data included information like users’ names, email addresses, occupations and ages.

-https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/google-announces-new-security-flaw-closes-social-network-early-n946201