Google+'s founder, Vic Gundotra, recently announced that he will be leaving Google. In 2011, Google+ launched with a crazy amount of hype but it was by invitation just as Google Wave. Hopefully Google+ is not destined to the same fate as Google Wave, the Google Product Graveyard. There is no doubt that Google+ has had mass negative publicity especially for it's real name policy. But debate between identity and anonymity is continues on. One thing that Google+ allowed users to do it is sign on to third-party services using their Google+ accounts; this greatly increases the chances of using a new product by reducing the time of registration.
But Google+ has expanded Google platform significantly. While majority of the conversation on Google+ is technology, there is much more meaningful content than on Facebook whether that be the actual posts or comments. The communities are simple to navigate and the Google Google+ communities seem to be the best place on the Internet to discuss all things Google; and they are very active. Finding help for Google products are not easy to come by outside of Google+.
Google Circles was a great concept to get people to create groups. But it had (has) so much more potential. When they announced it, I expected an seamless interface to organize groups but it was just as much effort as any other service. I wish it was much more graphical and free flowing.
Google+ also marketed Google Hangouts (aka Google Talk aka GTalk) that wasn't present before 2011. They even had President Obama host a Google Hangout. Hangouts has undoubtedly made video chatting more socially acceptable and frequent. I think Skype users can probably thank Hangouts for the group video chat that was recently made free.
Another aspect that Google+ expanded Google's platform is content. With the auto-upload option from Android devices, Google has created a photo/video service that works without any effort from its users. The user experience is simple. Photos are automatically "enhanced" and the Auto Awesome is just... Awesome! Who doesn't like my profile gif? The service also allows the users to edit their photos within the browser which is extremely convenient.
Vic Gundotra will leave Google having had great success in creating a great product and increasing the presence of Google's platform. I can't help but see the irony of how Vic was outed by an anonymous post on secret.ly...
But the future of Google+? Only time will time but hopefully it will not end up in the ever growing Google graveyard.