Google is shutting down the last remnants of Google Buzz to focus on Google+, the company announced on Friday.
“In a few weeks we’ll shut down Google Buzz and the Buzz API, and focus instead on Google+,” Bradley Horowitz, Google’s vice president of product, wrote on The Official 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.”
In addition, Google is shuttering Code Search on Jan. 15 and other social media offerings, including the Twitter-like Jaiku — which will also be discontinued on that date, and iGoogle’s social features. As previously announced, Google Labs will also shut down.
Launched in February 2010, Google Buzz was initially seen as a threat to Twitter and Facebook, but never lived up to its promise, becoming one of the biggest flops of the year. It is likely that Buzz will be viewed as a forerunner to Google+, which had a stronger start, hitting 40 million users in its first three months, according to Google CEO Larry Page.
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