Social media platforms used by people a decade ago were not the same as the ones that we have today. These were pretty straight and therefore were quite easy to hack and had many other issues as well. One of the reasons could be that the technology available at the time was quite limited.
Apart from that, people of that era only used social media platforms for sharing pictures and socializing only. Things took a new turn when platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube and many others came into the picture. These platforms are not only used for socializing anymore, instead they have become a gold mine for marketers. The drastic change could also be attributed to the availability of high-speed internet such as CenturyLink internet that has made these platforms accessible for everyone. Many businesses today who want to reach a wider audience also benefit from these social media platforms and the latest gadgets that sync with these platforms and create more possibilities.
Let’s have a look at social media platforms that people used to use a few years ago and reasons why these social platforms became obsolete.
Google+
Closing Date: April 2, 2019
Google+ was launched in the year 2011 but never succumbed to the extreme competition against Facebook and many other social platforms. One of the foremost issues that contributed to the decline of the social platform in April were acute security concerns that users experienced. Along with all the other issues, Google+ never got enough engagement from users and sessions only went up to a maximum of 5 seconds.
Path
Closing Date: October 18, 2018
The app was launched as a social networking platform that enabled messaging and photo sharing service for mobile devices. It allowed people to share pictures with around 50 contacts including their close friends and family. People could post photos and tag things, people, and places. The app got discontinued a few years ago.
Yahoo Messenger
Closing Date: July 17, 2018
This was one of the most popular chat messengers that was known for its amazing layout, voice chat and many other features that were included in the messenger. It closed operations around 2 years ago but this was one of the integral media that was used by people for online social networking. In the days when Yahoo Messenger got launched, it became one of the most used chat applications that worked as an alternative to emails and SMS messaging. One of the causes of the decline and finally the closure of Yahoo Messenger was the origin of smartphones and other social media and chat applications like WhatsApp that compelled users to switch from Yahoo Messenger.
Orkut
Closing Date: September 30, 2014
Orkut was one of the most used platforms in many countries and people used it for a number of social interactions. When Facebook became popular during the same era, many Orkut users migrated from Orkut to Facebook. For Orkut, there was no other way but to shut the platform down. For Google, the popularity of other social platforms became a hurdle in Orkut’s growth and the reason that the website no longer exists today.
Vine
Closing Date: January 17, 2017
In the year 2016, Twitter announced that they are shutting down their social media platform called Vine, which came into effect in the second week of January 2017. This was one of the popular video loop applications that allowed users to make and share a six-second video but the app was not able to compete with other apps. Primarily, Instagram became one of its major competitors and users who were considered as Vine celebrities left the platform and joined Instagram and started posting their videos there.
Sometimes old isn’t gold
The reason behind almost all the apps was the lack of technology and functionality as compared to social media platforms today including Facebook, WhatsApp among others. Using these apps and software was fun too but these apps lacked security and innovation as well that a user looks for. Hence, many of these apps are not used by people anymore.
