Google Unlinks YouTube, Google+, Will Use Google Account Instead
Starting a few weeks from now, video creators and commenters won't need a Google+ account to use YouTube.
Social network Google+ hasn't been the Facebook competitor that it was designed to be, and even Google has to admit that it's holding YouTube back. In 2013, Google made the unpopular decision to link YouTube and Google+ accounts, requiring Google+ for anyone who wanted to upload videos or even comment on them. No doubt many have a Google+ account for no other reason but to use YouTube.
In a blog post today, however, YouTube announced that the policy will soon end. Sometime "in the coming weeks" users won't need a Google+ account to create a channel, upload videos, or comment on others' videos. To do so, people will instead use their standard Google accounts. The advantage to using Google accounts is that they aren't searchable or followable, unlike Google+ profiles, writes Bradley Horowitz, vice president of streams, photos, and sharing, in a related blog post.
YouTubers will be able to remove their Google+ profiles from their YouTube accounts. The post warns people not to do so yet, though, as that would delete their channel. Those interested should wait a few weeks for the official announcement of when it's safe to do so. Google will roll out this change—needing a Google account rather than a Google+ account—to its other products in the coming months.
YouTube also announced that it has improved its comment ranking system so that "junk comments" aren't as visible, and that comments will no longer automatically appear on a user's Google+ account.
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