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Surprise: Google is still tinkering with Google+

Surprise: Google is still tinkering with Google+

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Adding some features, bringing another back, and killing the old design layout

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Sometimes you’re so deeply invested in a project that even when it’s just not working you can’t stop fiddling, telling yourself: “If I just change this one thing maybe it’ll all be fine.” So seems to be the situation with Google and Google+, the company’s also-ran social network.

This week, the search giant announce a handful of changes for the service, including hiding “low-quality” comments by default, adding a zoom functionality for photos on the web, and bringing back its events feature — letting users create events and invite others. (Not mentioned in this recent update: the addition of machine learning to reduce image size for users, which was announced last week.)

Google is still trying to make Google+ work, centering it around communities.
Google is still trying to make Google+ work, centering it around communities.

In this spirit of “out with the old, in with the new,” the company also announced it would be killing the “classic” Google+ layout. Previously, users have been able to toggle between the two looks on the web using a link in the bottom left of the screen. Now, though, when the link is clicked by users looking at the old version they’re told it’s going to be “replaced soon.”

“It’s time to say goodbye to classic Google+ on the web, which we’ll be turning down on January 24,” writes product manager Danielle Buckley in a blog post, adding: “Just because we’re bidding adieu to classic Google+ doesn’t mean we’re done working on the new one.” So, yes: expect yet more tinkering in the future.