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 12 months. 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, comparable to posted evaluations, photographs, and movies. This choice comes after Google had already phased out a associated characteristic earlier in January—the power to comply with 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 comply with companies. The purpose 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. Nonetheless, the follower characteristic by no means gained widespread adoption and, in some instances, led to undesirable interactions, comparable to spam requests from bots.

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

Google is encouraging customers all for group 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 photographs, or modifying place info. This platform is extra targeted on sensible engagement reasonably than social connections and continues to assist checklist creation and sharing.

In a separate improvement, Google 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 offers drivers with entry to real-time site 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.