0polar · April 3, 2019 06:41
diff --git a/Another farewell posted 5 min. before the end... b/Another farewell posted 5 min. before the end...
 Originally shared by Carter Gibson - 65 comments
 I'm writing this knowing it will be my last post on Google+

 From the day I was invited to the beta, I spent a lot of time trying to explain what drew me to this platform to others. Sometimes I'd do that to laughs. Other times to people who were genuinely curious. Every time people were legitimately dumbstruck that this platform could have so much influence on my life. From my journey here as a humble college student to a writer with over 1.2M followers to the Program Manager in charge of this platform's community and content, I've learned so much, had an incredible time along the way, and got to for some lifelong connections. 

 This post won't be another post trying to convince anyone why Google+ was worthwhile - or even ahead of its time. This will be a post about how much I appreciated the time we all spent here.

 Google+ as a College Student
 Google+ came out while I was senior in college. I was absolutely freaking out about what I was going to do with my life. Something wasn't computing for me as I interviewed for jobs in suits - so I joined Google+ and entered a public Hangout. It was madness in all the best and worst ways of the internet. Suddenly, I found myself keeping my college roommates up as I hopped from Hangout to Hangout. I'd meet some people I'd never see again, rarely I'd catch the curious Google employee, sometimes there'd be drama, and I didn't realize that a few people I met would become my actual friends.

 It was around this time I learned what a Community Manager was thanks to the people Google had employed at the time. "Aha!" It clicked. Fostering community was something I could get passionate about. I began exploring as my follower count grew and grew thanks to circle shares and I began to watch my Ripples grow. This would lead to a talk in LA that resulted in me getting a job as an Associate Community Manager in SF with a manager who would go on to be the Community Team Lead at Reddit. He was my mentor along with Google+'s Community Manager and they are the reason for me having a career that I love.

 Most importantly, there were HIRL's and my rants against"Product Evangelists".

 Google+ as a Suggested User
 There was something about the newness of Google+ that I liked. The blank slate was totally alluring - especially as I began to feel completely overwhelmed by the pressures of LinkedIn and Facebook. Google+ was a legitimate experiment for me. I tried to be as authentic, as transparent, and as outspoken about my passions as I could be. If I had to guess, that was the sole reason some kid in college got onto the Suggested User List (after making rant-y posts about how terrible it was to Google VP's) and stayed there for years. 

 I was officially "Fun and Interesting". 

 This was a weird club to be in. There was no communication about what it meant to be on it, why you were on it, or how to stay on it. All I knew is that I was doing something right and to just... keep going. This instilled a specific guilt in me to do something more with my time here than just post. I had always been a bit of an activist, but that list turned it up to 11 for me. I would experiment with starting a nonprofit, organize the #PridePulse community, start Secret Santa, and give interviews on traditional broadcast networks. I became a professional writer at the same time. It was extremely fulfilling, rewarding, stressful, and overwhelming. 

 Google+ Without the Magic
 A really, really funny thing happens to you after you amass a certain amount of followers. People begin to be disappointed in you for not being what they expected. I can not express to you how exhausting that pressure is. My experiment in authenticity was caving in and I didn't have the energy to dig myself out. My real life was accelerating around me and I focused on that more and more. It was absolutely healthy, but I'm still disappointed that I couldn't maintain a presence here while I did - if, for anything, to maintain my connections to the people I had grown so close to.

 I left Google+ slowly until I didn't post at all. But what I did do was stay in touch with a few of you. We friended each other on Facebook, met up, and sent each other Instagram posts. Sometimes we'd send each other a Hangout message and I always knew that that little chat notification meant someone from Google+ was reaching out to say hi.

 I would sometimes come to Google+ to admire that the same people were posting the same things. Some SUL'ers were still posting their blog posts. People were sharing crafts. There were still inside jokes. I'd watch it like I was looking at it through a window and it always gave me a certain amount of longing.

 Google+ as a Googler
 Hooooo boy. This was certainly an unexpected turn in the story. I got a call from a recruiter telling me that Google was hiring a 'Program Lead, Content and Community' for a Google product. When I learned it was Google+, I asked if they knew about my history on the platform. They didn't - for better or worse. As an aside, while there is so much on Google+ I'm extremely proud of, there's also so much that was written by a college kid who was growing into himself and learning how to post. I grew up here. The next thing I knew, boom. I had a job at Google, albeit as contractor, but still! This was a place I had applied to no fewer than 3 times and I made it.

 Working on Google+, I would go on to own our Featured Collections, Suggested Communities, a team of incredible Community Managers, Early Access, and - yes - the Suggested User List. I have never learned so much, so quickly. Machine learning? Check. Vendor operations? Check. Launch schedules? Check. Traditional engineering program management? Check. Ho. Ly. Shit. It was one thing after another and eventually I became a fulltime Googler - with the little hat thingy and everything.

 Being on the other side of the curtain, I got immense joy supporting people doing incredible stuff. I believe that a Program Manager creates the mechanisms that allow people to be even more awesome and I got to do this at an incredible scale while making lifelong work friends and gaining even more mentors. I was so incredibly passionate about my work on Google+ and I wanted you all to know how much I cared about doing the right thing for all of you.

 Google+ as a Memory
 I hope that people, when they look back on my experience here, can remember this platform more kindly than they did when it was trying to bust out from the shadows of larger social sites. I hope everyone who was here with me read this and got a little warm behind the eyes remembering just how much time we spent together and what it meant for us. This was a special place and I'm so grateful to have been supported by it and to have supported it myself. Maybe one day they'll be another place where we can try a crazy experiment together again. For the future, www.instagram.com/prcgibson
	Originally shared by Carter Gibson - 65 comments
	I'm writing this knowing it will be my last post on Google+

	From the day I was invited to the beta, I spent a lot of time trying to explain what drew me to this platform to others. Sometimes I'd do that to laughs. Other times to people who were genuinely curious. Every time people were legitimately dumbstruck that this platform could have so much influence on my life. From my journey here as a humble college student to a writer with over 1.2M followers to the Program Manager in charge of this platform's community and content, I've learned so much, had an incredible time along the way, and got to for some lifelong connections.

	This post won't be another post trying to convince anyone why Google+ was worthwhile - or even ahead of its time. This will be a post about how much I appreciated the time we all spent here.

	Google+ as a College Student
	Google+ came out while I was senior in college. I was absolutely freaking out about what I was going to do with my life. Something wasn't computing for me as I interviewed for jobs in suits - so I joined Google+ and entered a public Hangout. It was madness in all the best and worst ways of the internet. Suddenly, I found myself keeping my college roommates up as I hopped from Hangout to Hangout. I'd meet some people I'd never see again, rarely I'd catch the curious Google employee, sometimes there'd be drama, and I didn't realize that a few people I met would become my actual friends.

	It was around this time I learned what a Community Manager was thanks to the people Google had employed at the time. "Aha!" It clicked. Fostering community was something I could get passionate about. I began exploring as my follower count grew and grew thanks to circle shares and I began to watch my Ripples grow. This would lead to a talk in LA that resulted in me getting a job as an Associate Community Manager in SF with a manager who would go on to be the Community Team Lead at Reddit. He was my mentor along with Google+'s Community Manager and they are the reason for me having a career that I love.

	Most importantly, there were HIRL's and my rants against"Product Evangelists".

	Google+ as a Suggested User
	There was something about the newness of Google+ that I liked. The blank slate was totally alluring - especially as I began to feel completely overwhelmed by the pressures of LinkedIn and Facebook. Google+ was a legitimate experiment for me. I tried to be as authentic, as transparent, and as outspoken about my passions as I could be. If I had to guess, that was the sole reason some kid in college got onto the Suggested User List (after making rant-y posts about how terrible it was to Google VP's) and stayed there for years.

	I was officially "Fun and Interesting".

	This was a weird club to be in. There was no communication about what it meant to be on it, why you were on it, or how to stay on it. All I knew is that I was doing something right and to just... keep going. This instilled a specific guilt in me to do something more with my time here than just post. I had always been a bit of an activist, but that list turned it up to 11 for me. I would experiment with starting a nonprofit, organize the #PridePulse community, start Secret Santa, and give interviews on traditional broadcast networks. I became a professional writer at the same time. It was extremely fulfilling, rewarding, stressful, and overwhelming.

	Google+ Without the Magic
	A really, really funny thing happens to you after you amass a certain amount of followers. People begin to be disappointed in you for not being what they expected. I can not express to you how exhausting that pressure is. My experiment in authenticity was caving in and I didn't have the energy to dig myself out. My real life was accelerating around me and I focused on that more and more. It was absolutely healthy, but I'm still disappointed that I couldn't maintain a presence here while I did - if, for anything, to maintain my connections to the people I had grown so close to.

	I left Google+ slowly until I didn't post at all. But what I did do was stay in touch with a few of you. We friended each other on Facebook, met up, and sent each other Instagram posts. Sometimes we'd send each other a Hangout message and I always knew that that little chat notification meant someone from Google+ was reaching out to say hi.

	I would sometimes come to Google+ to admire that the same people were posting the same things. Some SUL'ers were still posting their blog posts. People were sharing crafts. There were still inside jokes. I'd watch it like I was looking at it through a window and it always gave me a certain amount of longing.

	Google+ as a Googler
	Hooooo boy. This was certainly an unexpected turn in the story. I got a call from a recruiter telling me that Google was hiring a 'Program Lead, Content and Community' for a Google product. When I learned it was Google+, I asked if they knew about my history on the platform. They didn't - for better or worse. As an aside, while there is so much on Google+ I'm extremely proud of, there's also so much that was written by a college kid who was growing into himself and learning how to post. I grew up here. The next thing I knew, boom. I had a job at Google, albeit as contractor, but still! This was a place I had applied to no fewer than 3 times and I made it.

	Working on Google+, I would go on to own our Featured Collections, Suggested Communities, a team of incredible Community Managers, Early Access, and - yes - the Suggested User List. I have never learned so much, so quickly. Machine learning? Check. Vendor operations? Check. Launch schedules? Check. Traditional engineering program management? Check. Ho. Ly. Shit. It was one thing after another and eventually I became a fulltime Googler - with the little hat thingy and everything.

	Being on the other side of the curtain, I got immense joy supporting people doing incredible stuff. I believe that a Program Manager creates the mechanisms that allow people to be even more awesome and I got to do this at an incredible scale while making lifelong work friends and gaining even more mentors. I was so incredibly passionate about my work on Google+ and I wanted you all to know how much I cared about doing the right thing for all of you.

	Google+ as a Memory
	I hope that people, when they look back on my experience here, can remember this platform more kindly than they did when it was trying to bust out from the shadows of larger social sites. I hope everyone who was here with me read this and got a little warm behind the eyes remembering just how much time we spent together and what it meant for us. This was a special place and I'm so grateful to have been supported by it and to have supported it myself. Maybe one day they'll be another place where we can try a crazy experiment together again. For the future, www.instagram.com/prcgibson