Goodbye Google Plus…
Image courtesy of Gustavo da Cunha Pimenta
at least when signing up for a new Google account! In the past, Google Plus profiles were completely obligatory for any new users to Google. But this month, Google has quietly dropped the Google Plus requirement, according to a Marketing Land article by Martin Beck.
“After two and half years of mandatory social account creation, new users are now given a “No thanks” choice when signing up for Gmail and other Google products,” Beck says.
A Wordstream blog post by Larry Kim also broke the news that Google Plus was no longer required. Kim explains that the mandatory integration of new Gmail or Youtube accounts with Google Plus has been around since 2012, and users once had to provide a Gmail username, Google Plus account and gender in order to sign up for a Google account, However, this was not always the case, according to a Marketing Land article by Greg Finn. Before the requirement, any existing Gmail account or email address would do the trick. Finn thought the move toward requiring a Google Plus account in order to sign up was surprising at the time, as Google Plus was still in beta.
“Google Plus (was) still a beta product unlike Gmail, Google Apps or YouTube,” Finn says. “While Google has always tended to keep products in beta for long periods of time, users have never been forced into participating.”
Image courtesy of AJ Cann
There were also already rumors internally at Google that Google Plus was very poorly planned, and Google Plus encountered much controversy early on, according to a Search Engine Land article by Danny Sullivan. In 2011, Google staff software engineer Steve Yegge’s scathing post on Google, Google Plus and Amazon was leaked to the world. Yegge criticized Google Plus and said it was a knee-jerk response to Facebook and that a fifth-grader could do better, explains Sullivan.
Despite the criticism, many users especially those in fledgling fields focused on technology much like our young local SEO industry have grabbed ahold Google Plus and refuse to let go. In fact, Google Plus communities are an extremely popular way for users to post content and interact with thought leaders. Google Plus and Google Maps integration has also allowed business owners to build up a reputation on Google Plus and create successful business pages.
Is Google Plus in Trouble?
Image courtesy of birgerking
Maybe Google is simply regretting forcing users to participate in a project that was not widely accepted or well planned.
“Google has gone to valiant lengths to convince us that rumors of Google Plus’s demise have been greatly exaggerated, but Google is no longer forcing new Gmail users to connect their account to a Google+ profile – yet another move that could signal the end for Google’s troubled social network,” says Kim.
So is Kim right? Is the getting rid of the requirement a sign that Google Plus is going downhill? In fact, there have been signs lately that the social network is less than thrilled with its pet project. A Huffington Post article by Dino Grandoni says the future for Google Plus looks bleak. The headline of the article reads “Google+ Isn’t Dead. It’s Just In A Coma And On Life Support.” Uh oh. Grandoni thinks the beginning of the end began when the head of Google Plus and Google’s social efforts Vic Gundotra left the company.
“Google has not, and probably will never, announce that Google+ will be “sunsetted” (the company’s favorite euphemism for killed off),” Grandoni says. “But the Internet giant might as well have this week when the guy who has been running Google+ since day one said he’s leaving.”
Photo courtesy of Jolie O’Dell
He also believes that requiring people to have a Google Plus account was simply annoying, for example making users create a Google Plus account in order to comment on YouTube. The policy also allowed Google Plus to “juice its user numbers and announce a bewildering 58 percent jump in active users over five months. But forcing people to join is no way to build a social network that people will voluntarily use,” Grandoni expresses.
Beck believes that while it might seem like Google is trying to downplay its mistakes with Google Plus, the company is actually just trying to make some positive changes and subtle improvements as it often does with all their products and might not just be concerned about the numbers.
“It seems clear that the company is no longer concerned with pumping up its Google Plus user numbers, if it ever was,” Beck says. “It will never be more popular than Facebook, but it doesn’t need to be.”
What do you think about all these Google developments? Did you ever have to create a Google Plus account in order to do things on the web? Do you think getting rid of the policy is a good idea? Share your story with us by commenting below or interacting with us on social media (even our )