Google+ Sign Ups No Longer Required For New Users Of Other Google Services

Chuck Bednar for redOrbit.com – Your Universe Online
After two-plus years of requiring new users to create Google+ accounts when signing up for other services, Google is allowing them to opt-out of the previously mandatory social media accounts, according to published reports.
On Friday, Martin Beck of Marketing Land reported that the Mountain View, California-based firm quietly dropped the Google+ requirement earlier this month by allowing users to click a “no thanks” button while signing up for Gmail, Drive or other Google services.
Google has required new users to set up a profile on their social media website since January 2012, and Beck said that some viewed the requirement as “a strong-arm tactic” on the part of the tech giant. However, a Google+ account is still required to review restaurants, post videos on YouTube or rate content on the Play store, he added.
“Eliminating the forcible aspect of the process is a smart move for Google. It should help the company further distance itself from missteps such as the extremely unpopular integration of YouTube comments and Google+,” said Beck.
“Some will see this change as more evidence that Google is de-emphasizing (or even preparing to kill) its three-year-old social network,” he added. “But more likely, in my opinion, is that Google will continue making subtle changes to the service, making improvements to popular Google+ products like Hangouts and Hangouts on Air or even spinning off its excellent photo product so people without Google+ accounts can use it.”
According to Asian News International (ANI), Google has previously stopped pushing its over 300 million Google+ users to use their real names on their accounts back in July, and in April, they replaced “Sign In With Google+” buttons in exchange for a more straightforward method that has users sign into their Google accounts.
“We updated the signup experience in early September,” a Google spokesperson told Sophie Curtis of The Telegraph on Monday. “Users can now create a public profile during signup, or later, if and when they share public content for the first time (like a restaurant review, YouTube video or Google+ post).”
“It remains to be seen if this slight tweak represents some sort of greater signal regarding Google’s ambitions with Google+,” added David Murphy of PC Magazine. “At least, that’s the current speculation – not helped by the fact that Google senior vice president for social and Google+ co-creator, Vic Gundotra, stepped down from his position this past April.”
Curtis noted that unidentified sources have told reporters that a massive Google+ reorganization was underway, and that the social network would be re-classified internally as a platform instead of a product. In June, it removed search results from Google+ author profiles in what was called an attempt to “clean up the visual design” of the service, and admitted that the content had not proved to be as useful to their users as they had originally hoped.
“With the removal of mandatory Google+ profiles for Gmail users, it appears that Google is taking another step back from its social network, which was once pegged as a rival to Facebook and Twitter,” she added.
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