Google To Discontinue Particular person Follower Function On Google Maps By September

Google has announced it’ll shut down the person follower characteristic on Google Maps later this yr. The change, set to take impact in September, marks the tip of a social performance that allowed customers to observe different people to view their public exercise, resembling posted evaluations, pictures, and movies. This resolution comes after Google had already phased out a associated characteristic earlier in January—the power to observe companies for updates on occasions and promotions.

The person follower system was launched in 2020 as an extension of the 2018 “Observe” button characteristic (launched in 2019 on iOS), which initially allowed customers to observe companies. The purpose was to make Google Maps a extra community-driven platform, including a social layer the place customers may interact with content material shared by others. Nonetheless, the follower characteristic by no means gained widespread adoption and, in some instances, led to undesirable interactions, resembling spam requests from bots.

With the upcoming removing, Google said that each one follower-related knowledge—each who customers observe and who follows them—shall be completely deleted from its servers. The visibility settings of person profiles will stay intact, however there’ll now not be a must handle follower requests, particularly for these with restricted accounts. For a lot of customers, this will likely come as a aid as a result of restricted engagement and occasional spam related to the characteristic.

Google is encouraging customers serious about group interplay to transition to Native Guides Join, an official discussion board the place members can earn factors for contributing to Maps by writing evaluations, submitting pictures, or modifying place info. This platform is extra centered on sensible engagement reasonably than social connections and continues to help record creation and sharing.

In a separate growth, Google just lately expanded its partnership with electrical car maker Rivian. Rivian’s vehicles and SUVs are actually adopting a brand new navigation system powered by the Google Maps Auto SDK, changing the previous system that used Mapbox. This replace gives drivers with entry to real-time visitors knowledge and enhanced search capabilities for factors of curiosity, strengthening Google Maps’ position within the EV navigation house.

Filed in Cellphones >Computers. Learn extra about Google and Google Maps.