The Telegraph spotted this:
Google has quietly removed the requirement for new Gmail users to sign up for a Google+ account, in an apparent acknowledgment that some users find it intrusive.Google+ is a social network which integrates with many of Google’s online services, including Gmail, the +1 button, and YouTube comments. The service has over 300 million active users worldwide, according to Google.
However, some insiders have expressed scepticism about this number, claiming that a user does not even have to navigate to the Google+ website to count as ‘active’; they merely have to click the notifications icon in the top right hand side of the screen.
Good. This really just a personal thing but it seems to be shared personally by a lot of persons. Where I’m okay to good with signing in to Apple’s various services – because I see the benefit and it got to me first – I find it immensely aggravating how Google pushes and pushes and shoves all of its at me. At least with Apple it feels that the benefits to me come before it pushing: it feels like I get to see why it’d be useful before it tries to get me to sign up. And while it may be that I see fewer Apple prods because I have signed up, I do see few Apple prods. And I get a lot from Google.
Now seemingly persons will get one fewer.
Since 2012, anyone signing up for a new Gmail account was required to sign up for a Google+ account at the same time. However, the company has now added a ‘No thanks’ button that allows users to opt out of the service.
“We updated the signup experience in early September,” a Google spokesperson told The Telegraph. “Users can now create a public profile during signup, or later, if and when they share public content for the first time (like a restaurant review, YouTube video or Google+ post).”
The Telegraph extrapolates from this that Google+ itself is less the poster child it used to be at the company. I don’t know. Certainly Google+ hasn’t become part of my life the way Facebook and Twitter have – perhaps because of its too-eager pushing? – but we’ll see. I wouldn’t miss Google+ but I’m happy enough with today’s news.