The debut of Google’s social layer, Google+ is only about a month away, but it is up and running for exclusive invitees. Google has been determined to create an answer to Facebook and their mentality has been “to make connecting with people on the web more like connecting with them in the real world.” However, with the installation of the world’s next largest social media outlet led by Vic Gundotra, this will bring about some reformations for two of Google’s most important products.
The Picasa and Blogger names, two of Google’s most popular products, will be renamed into “Google Photos” and “Google Blogs.” Picasa and Blogger are both free websites, Picasa for photo editing, and Blogger allows for blog creation. Google will integrate Picasa and Blogger into Google+ with the help of rebranding and renaming. Because both are social products which improve as more people use them, this step for Google seems to make sense as Google + begins to roll out. With Google+ several other Google brands will be affected, however YouTube, which took over Google Video, will not be rebranded.
When will this transition happen? It is expected that within a month and a half Picasa and Blogger will become Google Photos and Google Blogs. Ideally, the release will coincide with the public debut of Google+ which is said to be on or before July 31st. In addition, the release of Google+ will also be the day in which all private Google Profiles will be deleted. Google does not want to have private profiles after the launch of Google+ and are therefore encouraging users to make use of Google+ Circles, in order to control their friends’ access to their profile.
Do you think Picasa’s and Blogger’s rebranding and transition into Google Photos and Google Blogs will hurt these two products? It will be interesting to see the role they play in Google+ and the overall success Google+ will have as the next social media network.
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