| 1 | Google begins to wane off mandatory Google+ profiles, YouTube first to make the change. |
| 2 | Google+ profile no longer needed for YouTube, other Google platforms Google begins to wane off mandatory Google+ profiles, YouTube first to make the change. |
| 3 | Though it's been declared over more times than we can count, it looks like Google's social network is finally on death's door. |
| 4 | The writing has been on the wall for a while now but Google is finally breaking up with Google+. |
| 5 | Google+ profiles will no longer be the be-all and end-all identity for users across the company's platforms such as YouTube, Google said Monday. |
| 6 | Bradley Horowitz, Google's vice president of streams, photos and sharing, wrote in a blog post Monday that although the company got certain things right with Google+, there were a few choices that, "in hindsight, we've needed to rethink." |
| 7 | Google+ launched in June 2011 as a social network to give users a single identity across all Google platforms, and offer some competition to rival Facebook. |
| 8 | But some users did not react well to the forced integration with Google+. |
| 9 | "People have told us that accessing all of their Google stuff with one account makes life a whole lot easier," Horowitz said, "but we've also heard that it doesn't make sense for your Google+ profile to be your identity in all the other Google products you use." |
| 10 | In a bid to make a "more focused, more useful, more engaging" Google+, Horowitz said, over the next few months the company will unravel certain Google+ features and only require a Google account for access. |
| 11 | Unlike the public Google+ profiles, Google accounts are not searchable or followable, he said. |
| 12 | With these changes, people who don't use Google+ will not need a public profile to use other Google products. |
| 13 | The first platform to make the break will be YouTube, which previously required users to have a Google+ account to comment, share, or upload videos on the site. |
| 14 | Starting today, users will only need a Google account to engage on YouTube. |
| 15 | Comments made on YouTube will not appear on Google+, and vise versa. |
| 16 | Google announced last week that it's shutting down Google+ Photos by Aug. 1 to make room for a stand-alone Google Photos app. |
| 17 | We have been liberated from Google+ YES!!!!!!!!!! |
| 18 | Reports saying Google+ will be removed from YouTube. |
| 19 | May be messy, but I am so damn happy right now. |
| 20 | Google Plus and Youtube are finally splitting up! |