IGoogle

iGoogle was a great idea that just never got off the ground. Google decided in 2005 that it would offer users a personalized web portal and start page. They named the service iGoogle and heavily promoted it as an alternative to the Yahoo web portal and the start pages of other Internet services. From the beginning, iGoogle was given many features to attract users. The most popular feature of the platform was that it allowed developers to create widgets and plug-ins similar to those developed for WordPress. Users could insert a world clock, the weather in their local area, news headlines, or sports results. There were widgets for moon phases, horoscopes, and daily quotes. Each user could use these widgets to create a unique design for their web portal. iGoogle also offered a library of themes that users could choose from. These themes would change the color or layout of the portal. By 2008, iGoogle was in the process of being revamped. The platform did not attract the user attention that Google had hoped. An effort was made to make revisions to the platform. One of these was to add tabs to the portal. Those who had been using the platform were asked to participate in a test of the new features. The results were unimpressive, and Google ultimately decided to abandon the project. iGoogle was succeeded by Google+, a platform that focused more heavily on social media features. This platform has also faced problems with mainstream acceptance.