Google will discontinue Google+ Hangouts On Air from the September 12th, instead prompting users to use YouTube Live for livestreaming. Events cannot be scheduled on Google+ for after 12th September anymore, and any existing events scheduled to happen after the date will have to be moved to YouTube Live. The search giant officially rolled out ‘Hangouts On Air’ feature to Google+ users worldwide, allowing users to publicly broadcast the live video feed of their Hangout discussions as well as record the entire session for future viewing, back in May 2012. Launched in 2011, the product was previously available to limited number of broadcasters. Note that YouTube had also launched its own live streaming section (mostly for one-off events) way back in 2011, with features like analytics and monetization options like in-stream ads and pay-per-view. The company rolled the feature out officially ‘for channels that are in good standing and have at least 1,000 subscribers’ in 2013. Google has finally decided to merge the 2 features, reducing the user reliance on Google+ even further. The company had recently also added live streaming to all users on its YouTube app. There is currently a tab on YouTube’s app which shows which live streams that are playing and includes a live chat. The live streams are available as videos later. The end of Google+: The end is nigh for Google+ which has struggled to match up to the popularity of Facebook and other social networks. In 2015, Google+ account was removed as a…
