Google Drops The Google+ Requirement For Products, Starts Today With YouTube

It was just under two years ago when the injection of Google+ into YouTube comments caused quite a controversy. This change required the use of a Google+ account to participate in conversations on Google products. A new announcement today is decentralizing Google+ for Google users and focusing back on a standard Google account.

This move to force Google+ on users was widely criticized as a method to boost overall network numbers. The original argument for the integration was that it made life easier and more convenient for users. Welp, Google has now changed their mind:

People have told us that accessing all of their Google stuff with one account makes life a whole lot easier. But we’ve also heard that it doesn’t make sense for your Google+ profile to be your identity in all the other Google products you use.

According to Google, the goal of these changes is to make a “more focused” Google+ experience.

While Google+ will no longer be a requirement for use of many Google products, it will actually be removed from YouTube comments, as well. Google+ comments on a video will not be appended to the video, and comments made on YouTube won’t make it to Google+. From the release:

With today’s announcement from Google+, you’ll see more changes. The comments you make on YouTube will now appear only on YouTube, not also on Google+. And vice-versa. This starts rolling out today.

Google has begun the surgery to remove Google+ from products, starting today with YouTube.

It’s been looming for quite a while. Last year Google took their foot off the gas on forced Google+ sign-ups. Then last September, Google stopped requiring a Google+ account along with normal Google accounts. Of course, last week Google+ announced the closing of Google+ Photos as the company transitions away from the Google+ unified front.

For the full release, see Google’s official blog post and the official YouTube post.

Postscript: Bradley Horowitz, the Google executive in charge of Google+, elaborated about the company’s thinking in a Google+ post today. Horowitz wrote that move will allow Google to more fully concentrate on the parts of Google+ that are working. From his post:

What does this mean for Google+ the product? Relieved of the notion of integrating with every other product at Google, Google+ can now focus on doing what it’s already doing quite well: helping millions of users around the world connect around the interest they love. Aspects of the product that don’t serve this agenda have been, or will be, retired. But you’ll also see a slew of improvements that make this use case shine (like the recent launch of Collections –https://plus.google.com/collections/featured).