It’s been a few weeks since I stopped using Google Plus as a social media platform. In those weeks I jumped over to Twitter and Instagram, neither of which I use very heavily. Frankly, it’s been nice disconnecting from the social media world and taking a moment to breathe. If you recall, I wrote a series of articles concerning a real problem plaguing Google’s social media platform, adult content.
The amount of adult content spam on the platform came to a breaking point for me and I decide to step away from it. My editorial gained both positive and negative comments, as expected. Some users agreed with me and were sad to see me depart. Other users called it drama or just someone else throwing a fit and Google Plus was still king, HOORAH!
I’m not going to sit here and explain my entire perspective on this again, but here’s the short of it. I fully acknowledge that Google’s social media network isn’t the only one that deals with such garbage. As with any social network, you’ll have to occasionally ban a troll or delete crappy comments. As an original Google+ user, I happily did that, never complaining to the platform about having to clean up a mess or two.
But things got out of hand at the start of 2017. Now, not all users saw this same behavior but the increase in trolls and particularly adult content spam increased dramatically for myself, some of our writers/editors, and our brand. I tolerated it and we cleaned up as much as possible. But it made using Google Plus difficult — especially while at work, in public places, and in front of my kids. Having adult content spam displayed on your monitor or phone after a refresh isn’t exactly something you like to explain to people.
I wasn’t the only one complaining about adult content spam as there were numerous posts all over Google+ complaining about it. We were promised a fix and I took their word for it. I patiently waited for the fix but none seem to come. After a long stressful trip to CES 2018, I was waiting to board my plane home to Chicago and deleting adult content spam comments by the dozen. That’s when I decided that I could not spend my time cleaning up the larger mess and had to step back.
Yeah, I know… sorry, that wasn’t as short as I hoped it would be.
Since I have a platform that reaches a good number of people, I decided to write about it in hopes Google would act faster. I’ve been keeping tabs on adult content spam on our brand page and asking other Google Plus users if they’ve seen any difference.
From observing the platform, posts, and asking other users, it appears that Google may have finally gotten a handle on adult content spam. Let’s be clear, I’m in no way attributing this to myself or this website. Before I left I had heard from some inside users that Google was working hard on a solution. I am just glad that it appears whatever solution they were working has been initiated.
As an original G+ user it pained me to leave the platform I’ve defended over the years. I found many friends through G+, some I’ve lost touch with and some whom I still talk to. It has been unlike any other social media platform I’ve used. Let’s hope that whatever Google has done over the past few weeks sticks and we’ll be seeing less adult content spam and trolls.
Last Updated on December 26, 2018.
