Google Forces Users to Join Google Plus
Face it, when it comes to social networks Google+ is not everyone’s favorite. User adoptions have been less than hefty and Google is not happy. What does the search giant do? Force people to sign up. ReadWrite reports that if you “Want To Comment On YouTube? You’ll Need A Google+ Account First.” In an attempt to cut back on haters’ comments on videos, Google will make anyone who wants to comment on YouTube videos sign up on its social network.
The goal is to clean up content and improve overall quality in the YouTube content section.
How many times have you watched a video on a video with serious content, i.e. animal cruelty, nuclear bombings, child abuse, or the 9/11 attacks, and someone posts a lewd comment or totally off base? As they say haters got to hate, but Matt McLernon, a YouTube spokesperson, wants the comment section to contain meaningful conversations.
Google never does something without a hidden agenda. It forces users to join the Google+ network. All Google users have been forced into this ploy one way or another and have said account, but that does not mean they use them. Google wants to drive its numbers up and may have a problem on its hands:
“The company is risking a user revolt by mandating all commenter’s be Google+ users, as many people are already unhappy that the service is being forced on them. YouTube will begin rolling out the changes on channel pages today, with the exclusive Google+ commenting and linking system due globally later this year.”
But you need to remember who these users are: YouTube commenters. No one takes them seriously in the first place, so staging a revolt probably will not do much. Good luck, though! Those snarky comments give you all the power in the world.
Whitney Grace, October 12, 2013
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
Phi Beta Iota: Google also forces all Gmail links to go through Google rather than direct so that transaction data can be captured.
