Google+ will soon be split into Photos and Streams. The social network and photo management offerings are now being headed by Google product vice-president Bradley Horowitz, who’s taken over from David Besbris.

The announcement comes just a couple of days after Google’s senior VP of products Sundar Pichai said in an interview to Forbes, “I think increasingly you’ll see us focus on communications, photos and the Google+ Stream as three important areas, rather than being thought of as one area.”

In addition to separating photo management from Google+, the company will also distance its Hangouts communication platform from the social network, and develop all three independently.

It’ll be interesting to see just how the move changes the Google+ experience for users in the days to come. We’ve contacted Google for more information and will update this post when we hear back.

➤ Bradley Horowitz on Google+

Read next: Microsoft launches mid-range Lumia 640 and 640XL, arriving April