YouTube will no longer require users have a Google+ account to comment on or post videos. The conscious uncoupling is the latest attempt by Google separate its popular products from the flailing social network.
More products will announce similar changes in the coming months, Google (GOOG) said in a pair of Blogger posts announcing the unsurprising news on Monday. YouTube will be first, and users will soon be able to leave their trademark incisive and intellectual comments on videos without a Google+ account.
"We want to formally retire the notion that a Google+ membership is required for anything at Google ... other than using Google+ itself," said Google VP Bradley Horowitz on Google+.
Google has spent much of the last four years awkwardly attempting to graft Google+ onto most of its products. The attempt to take on Facebook (FB, Tech30) and Twitter (TWTR, Tech30) with a unifying identity across Google was met with resistance by Google users. They bristled at the sometimes clumsy roll out, social features where they were unwanted, and a controversial "real names" policy.
Read full article.