A few years ago, Google went all in with Google+. Google+ is Google, remember? In an effort to unify all Google products under a common banner, Google tied everything to Google+ – including YouTube. This made a lot of people very angry and was widely regarded as a bad move.
Google+, as we all know, didn’t really turn out how Google envisioned. Whether you want to call Google+ dead, or dying, or niche, or whatever – it doesn’t really matter. Google knows it’s dead. Today, Google made another move to extricate Google+ from its actually popular products – of which there are many.
Google has announced that it is unlinking Google+ and YouTube, and will continue to unlink Google+ from other services in the coming months.
“When we launched Google+, we set out to help people discover, share and connect across Google like they do in real life. While we got certain things right, we made a few choices that, in hindsight, we’ve needed to rethink. So over the next few months, we’re going to be making some important changes.” says Google+ head Bradley Horowitz.
“We’ll also move some features that aren’t essential to an interest-based social experience out of Google+. For example, many elements of Google+ Photos have been moved into the new Google Photos app, and we’re well underway putting location sharing into Hangouts and other apps, where it really belongs. We think changes like these will lead to a more focused, more useful, more engaging Google+.”
First up is YouTube.
“In the coming weeks, YouTube will no longer require a Google+ profile when you want to upload, comment, or create a channel,” says the YouTube team.
All you’ll need is a regular old Google account (not a public Google+ profile), just like the old days.
Google will eventually give users an easy way to remove their Google+ profiles from YouTube.
“If you’re happy with everything as it is now, then just keep on keepin’ on. If you want to remove your Google+ profile, you’ll be able to do this in the coming months, but do not do it now or you’ll delete your YouTube channel,” says Google.
As Google said when it announced a kill date for Google+ photos last week, Google+ has shifted its focus to connecting people with shared interests.
“Google+ is quickly becoming a place where people engage around their shared interests, with the content and people who inspire them. In line with that focus, we’re continuing to add new features like Google+ Collections, where you can share and enjoy posts organized by the topics you care about,” says Horowitz.
That sound you hear is a chorus of YouTube users, rejoicing.