End of Google+ is here, may it rest in peace

Update, April 2, 2019 (11:15 AM ET): As detailed in the schedule below, today is the final day of Google's beleaguered social network Google+. As of publishing this update, Google+ still exists as a service, but the site could go down at any moment.

If you haven't backed up any data from your Google+ profile, now would be the time, as after today you'll lose it forever. Continue reading to learn about the tools Google offers to save all your pictures, posts, and comments from Google+.

After you've done that, pour one out for Google+. Rest in peace.

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Original article, January 30, 2019 (05:02 PM ET): If you were thinking about joining the hot new social media platform Google+ next week, we have some bad news for you: starting February 4, this coming Monday, the creation of new consumer-level Google+ profiles won't be possible.

Google revealed the profile creation termination date in a new support article. The post also describes other notable dates coming up for the previously announced planned demise of the beleaguered consumer version of the social network.

Check out the notable dates below:

• February 4, 2019 — You will no longer be able to create new Google+ profiles, pages, communities, or events.
• February 4 to March 7, 2019 — The Google+ feature for website comments will be removed by Blogger on February 4 and other sites by March 7.
• Mid-February or early March 2019 — Google+ sign-in buttons will stop working, but in some cases will be replaced by a Google sign-in button.
• Early March 2019 — Google+ Community owners and moderators who are downloading data from their Community will gain additional access to data such as author, body, and photos for every community post in a public community.
• April 2, 2019 — All Google+ comments on all sites will be deleted. Additionally, all Google+ accounts and pages will be shut down and Google will begin deleting content from consumer Google+ accounts. Photos and videos from Google+ in users' Album Archive and Google+ pages will also be deleted. Photos and videos backed up in Google Photos will not be deleted.

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Google is providing plenty of ways for you to prepare for the shutdown of Google+. You can use the company's Takeout program to back up some of your data, but Google is also providing a Google+ backup tool that will do a more thorough job. The Google+ Exporter app will export your data and keep everything nicely organized. It's free for the most recent 3,000 posts in your Google+ profile.

It should be noted that Google+ for G Suite users isn't going anywhere. In fact, the platform received a promise of new 2019 updates in October 2018.

While the end of Google+ is no doubt sad, especially for the small subset of users who still use it on a day-to-day basis, there's no way around it, now: Google+ is coming to a close. It's time to start backing up your data and moving on.

NEXT: Here lies Google+: Why it never scored (a lasting audience)

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