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

Google has announced it can 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 comply with different people to view their public exercise, corresponding to posted evaluations, photographs, and movies. This choice comes after Google had already phased out a associated characteristic earlier in January—the flexibility to comply with companies for updates on occasions and promotions.

The person follower system was launched in 2020 as an extension of the 2018 “Comply with” button characteristic (launched in 2019 on iOS), which initially allowed customers to comply with companies. The objective 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 circumstances, led to undesirable interactions, corresponding to spam requests from bots.

With the upcoming elimination, Google acknowledged that every one follower-related knowledge—each who customers comply with and who follows them—will probably be completely deleted from its servers. The visibility settings of consumer 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 because of the restricted engagement and occasional spam related to the characteristic.

Google is encouraging customers considering neighborhood 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 photographs, or enhancing place data. This platform is extra centered on sensible engagement quite than social connections and continues to assist listing creation and sharing.

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

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