CAM Posted July 15, 2014 Posted July 15, 2014 When we launched Google+ over three years ago, we had a lot of restrictions on what name you could use on your profile. This helped create a community made up of real people, but it also excluded a number of people who wanted to be part of it without using their real names. Over the years, as Google+ grew and its community became established, we steadily opened up this policy, from allowing +Page owners to use any name of their choosing to letting YouTube users bring their usernames into Google+. Today, we are taking the last step: there are no more restrictions on what name you can use. We know you've been calling for this change for a while. We know that our names policy has been unclear, and this has led to some unnecessarily difficult experiences for some of our users. For this we apologize, and we hope that today's change is a step toward making Google+ the welcoming and inclusive place that we want it to be. Thank you for expressing your opinions so passionately, and thanks for continuing to make Google+ the thoughtful community that it is. https://plus.google.com/+googleplus/posts/V5XkYQYYJqy Ship is still sinking though.
Garacesh Posted July 15, 2014 Posted July 15, 2014 I only use G+ for Ingress and, just like my Facebook account, I don't use my real name.
sonofsanta Posted July 16, 2014 Posted July 16, 2014 Don't knock Google+! It's great that all my photos are backed up automatically from my phone. Wait, what? What do you mean it does other things too? Don't be stupid.
elsiegee40 Posted July 16, 2014 Posted July 16, 2014 https://plus.google.com/+googleplus/posts/V5XkYQYYJqy Ship is still sinking though. Was the ship ever afloat? I have an account which I mostly used to play with its privacy settings when it was in Beta and it is just "there" now. I didn't even know it could could do the photo backup...I use Dropbox for that!
edutech4schools Posted July 16, 2014 Posted July 16, 2014 G+ photo stuff is blinking great, really love the story book and auto awesome. I store all my pics in drive and then get G+ to look at those folders as it gives me move control over folder structure but you still get all the G+ photo goodies. EDIT - move = more
rich_tech Posted July 16, 2014 Posted July 16, 2014 I use G+ to backup my iphone, seeing as I wont pay for more than the measly 5gb with iCloud, the Social Network behind it is good as well, its easy to select and get a feed full of interesting and appealing topics and not a lot of spam at all (I use ABP on everything here bar the mobile) Its just a shame that facebook has the monopoly, though I am seeing a fair few friends migrating over slowly as they get fed up on there with spam and nonsense.
Zoom7000 Posted July 16, 2014 Posted July 16, 2014 Google have tried so hard to get in to the social networking buzz but have failed every time. First there was Orkut, then they tried buying 2 companies, Dodgeball and Jaiku, then there was Wave and Buzz and now Google+ which seems to be getting the most attention, but I can't see it surviving too long. In reality, I really don't think anyone is gonna challenge Facebook & Twitter's crowns.
sonofsanta Posted July 16, 2014 Posted July 16, 2014 In reality, I really don't think anyone is gonna challenge Facebook & Twitter's crowns. Everyone thought Facebook was unassailable, then Twitter popped up. Everyone thought MySpace was unassailable before Facebook stole its thunder. Everyone thought Friends Reunited was all we'd ever need before that... Google's problem is they keep trying to imitate, and any innovations they do come up with are either a) too mad to make sense b) too small to make a difference. Twitter made it by offering something complementary; Google+ is failing because it's trying to replace Facebook, except there's no point in me being where my friends aren't.
Garacesh Posted July 16, 2014 Posted July 16, 2014 In reality, I really don't think anyone is gonna challenge Facebook & Twitter's crowns. They said that about MySpace. To some degree, they said that about Bebo, too. All it takes is the current 'big one' to screw up. Twitter isn't really a social network, in the sense of it, so if Facebook does step off too much, G+ it is.
Zoom7000 Posted July 16, 2014 Posted July 16, 2014 They said that about MySpace. To some degree, they said that about Bebo, too. All it takes is the current 'big one' to screw up. Twitter isn't really a social network, in the sense of it, so if Facebook does step off too much, G+ it is. That's the trouble, like @sonofsanta said, why would anyone go where their friends aren't. That's what makes Facebook so strong, it has the user base. I probably have around 300 friends on Facebook, 90% of whom have probably never heard of Google+. You see on adverts, add us on Facebook, follow us on Twitter. You don't get an add me to your Google+ Circle/Hangout. It's what makes WhatsApp stronger than Viber, Telegram, BBM, Skype and any other pretenders to the instant messaging crown, they just don't have the user base that WhatsApp do, even though they might have a superior product. MySpace and Bebo never had anywhere near the user base that Facebook has managed to build up and I can't see people wanting to flock to a new trend anytime in the near future.
CAM Posted July 16, 2014 Author Posted July 16, 2014 They said that about MySpace. To some degree, they said that about Bebo, too. All it takes is the current 'big one' to screw up. Twitter isn't really a social network, in the sense of it, so if Facebook does step off too much, G+ it is. The big one has screwed up, multiple times. Facebook still keeps going though otherwise how will people share pictures of babies doing silly things to cats?
Garacesh Posted July 16, 2014 Posted July 16, 2014 The big one has screwed up, multiple times. Facebook still keeps going though otherwise how will people share pictures of babies doing silly things to cats? Then they haven't screwed up. They had a blip. A screwup makes people leave. In droves. And not come back.
CAM Posted July 16, 2014 Author Posted July 16, 2014 Facebook's blips are screw-ups that would kill smaller networks. Non-consensual research, privacy violations, slow to address spam and malware propogation through the network, snooping phone contact books without consent, replacing E-Mails with a failed facebook address...
Garacesh Posted July 16, 2014 Posted July 16, 2014 Yep, I completely agree with you. They would be catastrophic for smaller networks. But they're only 'blips' for facebook. It's going to take something completely monumental to make the layman quit because ultimately, they just don't care about that stuff so long as they get their cat pictures and "WHAT HAPPENS NEXT WILL REDUCE YOU TO TEARS" articles. It's not going to be something unethical. It's not even going to be something illegal. It's going to be something inconvenient.
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