Dive Brief:
- Longtime Google VP Bradley Horowitz confirmed Sunday night that he will be taking over Google's Photos and Streams products—rather than Google+—a sign that the social network could be breaking up into sections.
- Senior VP Sundar Pichai also told Forbes in an exclusive interview that the search giant is approaching Google+ as three separate areas: Communications, photos, and Google+ stream.
- Regardless of splitting, Google+ continues to offer a single login identity across Google's products which will remain a focus.
Dive Insight:
The company stopped reporting social stats for Google+ in October 2013, so the rebrand was likely several months in the making. The words coming from Horowitz and Pichai point to marketing shift rather than a real change in Google+ products. Since it appears that the "social" aspect of Google+ hasn't really taken off, finding a new way to frame the platform and its features could be a facelift that the brand really needs. Google's team seems to realize there are aspects of Google+ that are working—like photos and Hangouts—and will put the emphasis on those features going forward.
In a statement, Pichai said that "the team is working on a few next generation ideas."
