Google has announced YouTube and Google+ will no longer be jointed at the hip, as part of a wider separation of the company’s popular tools and the social network.
The company says YouTube users will no longer need Google+ accounts to upload videos, start a channel or make comments on videos.
Google managed to upset a large proportion of YouTubers in 2013 by enforcing comments through Google+ in a bid to clean up the cesspool that is the YouTube feedback section.
Now the arranged marriage is coming to an end, as VP of Streams, Photos and Sharing Bradley Horowitz explained on Monday.
“People have told us that accessing all of their Google stuff with one account makes life a whole lot easier, he said on the Google blog. “
“So in the coming months, a Google Account will be all you’ll need to share content, communicate with contacts, create a YouTube channel and more, all across Google.”
Horowitz says the separation will come to other products in the near future, while the company will also offer options for removing unwanted Google+ profiles.
Today’s announcement follows the decision to break up Photos and Hangouts from the Google+ ecosystem, a decision that’s also been widely applauded.
Although the company makes no mention of winding down Google+, it seems the great social networking experiment might be on the way out.
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Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.