Google has announced it should shut down the person follower function 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, images, and movies. This determination comes after Google had already phased out a associated function 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 function (launched in 2019 on iOS), which initially allowed customers to comply with companies. The aim was to make Google Maps a extra community-driven platform, including a social layer the place customers might have interaction with content material shared by others. Nevertheless, the follower function 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—shall be completely deleted from its servers. The visibility settings of person profiles will stay intact, however there’ll not be a have to handle follower requests, particularly for these with restricted accounts. For a lot of customers, this will likely come as a reduction because of the restricted engagement and occasional spam related to the function.
Google is encouraging customers inquisitive about neighborhood interplay to transition to Native Guides Join, an official discussion board the place individuals can earn factors for contributing to Maps by writing evaluations, submitting images, or enhancing place data. This platform is extra targeted on sensible engagement reasonably than social connections and continues to help listing creation and sharing.
In a separate growth, Google not too long ago expanded its partnership with electrical car maker Rivian. Rivian’s vehicles 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 area.
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