The end is coming for Google Plus. It held promise when it launched in 2011, and I know several people who immediately jumped on board – including some who are still not on Facebook. But instead of being a big player in social media, Google Plus is shutting down for good in April. There are reasons it failed.
The “Circles” system made the barrier of entry too high. Facebook connects you via “friends” and you can follow pages and some profiles. Twitter is more simple than that: You follow and are followed. The “Circles” was way too convoluted and difficult to understand. I am a pretty tech-savvy person, but it took me a while to understand what Google was doing here. The average user most likely just gave up. Google Plus later changed to “followers” and “following” like Twitter, but that change was too little, too late.