I think that post is totally overblown link bait.

No way is G+ OR Local going away. G+ has become the heart and soul of Google it ain't goin' anywhere and neither is Local!

But with new leadership comes changes and no one really knows how this will shake out. Could be some exciting new direction will come from this so it could be good news, instead of the negativity that TC painted.

Linda Buquet

It did look like link bait at the time, but sentiments of the article are being expanded upon daily.

G+ Lost (or removed) its leader

Vic Gundotra's replacement doesn't have an equivalent title or position in the organization

G+ staff are being moved to other projects

It's all speculation at this point, but it does seem to point to a change in the Google approach to G+.

Here's a post where Google+’s Chief Architect, came right out and called the TC post BS.

Just noticed it and thought I'd share for any new perspective it offers.

Yonatan Zunger puts Google+ "Walking Dead" rumors to rest
[googleplusdaily.com...]

Linda

Those few words from TechCrunch have sparked some serious anger among the Silicon Valley cognoscenti. And the Google PR team vehemently denies the claims. The Gundotra announcement has “no impact on our Google+ strategy,” the company says. But if the strategy isn’t changing, it should. If you put aside all the sniping, a less monolithic Google+ is the natural path.

The fact of the matter is that — separate from any internal politics at Google — social networking is changing fast. Even Facebook, the dominating incumbent that gave Google+ a drubbing, will tell you this. As people move away from the web and onto smartphones and tablets, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and company are seriously changing the way their company operates, essentially splitting their massive social networks into a vast collection of individual mobile apps. Google+ needs to change as well.

[wired.com...]
Slightly more nuanced report.

Thanks tangor, had not seen that one yet. Much more balanced.

Interesting take on the situation from Forbes.

[forbes.com...]

No way is G+ OR Local going away. G+ has become the heart and soul of Google it ain't goin' anywhere and neither is Local!

Talking about Local and G+ and the TC article in the same post is just blurring the situation. The word local doesn't appear in that article. They are not commenting on Local at all.

The only people I know who use G+ fall into one or more of the following categories:

1. They hate FB
2. They love G
3. They don't want to socialise online

Oops sorry to blur the lines.

However now Google local pages have been totally upgraded to G+. (Except for problem pages) So Local pages are all now G+ pages. So if G+ changes it will affect local. But you are right should not have even mentioned local here.

I have been involved in discussions other places where folks have been debating how this will affect local and I copied one of my comments from there, sorry.

Also have pneumonia and am on 4 meds, so excuse my mistake. Guess I shouldn't even be trying to post right now.

Catalyst, get well soon!

Just because Vic Gundotra departed Google doesn't mean it's a dead service.

Of course, it will require someone to give it direction and focus if it's to continue as it was.

G+ has a great deal potential, but forcing people to use it has become a bad way to get users, imho.

Make something great and the people will come. I don't think it's great, as it has some way to go. The users will ultimately decide.

G+ is now so integrated into the rest of Google it's going to be tough to drop it without causing a great deal of problems, for users and for Google.

It's far from dead. If anything it will be merged into gmail more cleanly. We've already seen Gmail turn into something a closer to Google+ visually. He willingly left the company as compared to Google firing him and abandoning the program. Gotta love that linkbait.

... hmmh ... is G+ closing announced soon? no it will not close, even its like a ghosttown currently ...

1. I know no one personal who is using it. i know fb user, linkedin and twitter user, but not a single person who is using g+ regularly.
2. General social media is not such a big thing anymore, so the focus will shift to other things.
3. Google moves more and more to other topics ... more hardware stuff, robotics, wearable, bio ... google glass, google car, ...

... interesting ... where will all the glass pictures go ... where should the cars communicate? in the end you need always a network to put all the stuff.