Now you can have a Google account without Google+
Google has announced a slate of new changes for Google+ in the coming months, including the ability to have separate Google and Google+ accounts. This essentially means that if you don't want to be on Google+, you don't have to be.
For many users, their Google+ account exists only because they need one to use many of Google's services.
Google may just have finally acknowledged that Google+ isn’t going to be replacing Facebook as everyone’s favorite social network. While Google didn’t say that outright, it has announced a slew of changes that actually help streamline the service and, well, get it out of everyone’s hair.
The most significant change is probably the freedom to use your Google account without being shackled to Google+. While people generally enjoy using a single Google account to access all of Google’s services, Google said they are less keen on having their Google+ account conflated with their Google account. We can’t help but concur. Google+ is still a social media site, and we don’t really like the idea of a public profile being linked to all our other Google products.
Thankfully, a Google account will soon be all you need to access the rest of Google’s services and products. This also has the added benefit of more privacy as Google accounts are not publicly searchable like Google+ accounts.
YouTube will be one of the first products to see changes, yet another welcome change for avid YouTubers. A Google+ account is still required in order to comment, upload videos, or create a channel, but YouTubers will have the option to unlink their Google+ accounts from YouTube in the coming months.
One change is already in effect though. Starting today, comments posted on YouTube will no longer be posted to a user’s Google+ account.
YouTube users will have the option to separate their YouTube and Google+ accounts in the coming months.
Google is also offering to help people get rid of unwanted Google+ accounts, with better options for managing and removing these profiles.
These changes come on top of Google’s decision to discontinue Google+ photos by merging its functionality into the newly-launched Google Photos. It also recently added Google+ Collections, which allows users to organize posts by topic.
From the looks of it, Google is trying to shape Google+ into less of a Facebook-esque social media site and more of a place where people can easily engage with like-minded folks and discover relevant content. But don’t expect the latest slate of changes to take place immediately though – Google will be rolling them out progressively over the coming months.
Source: Google Blog
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