Google is getting more aggressive in their attempts to compete with Facebook. Now they’re requiring people to sign up for a Google+ account – or just doing it for them.
There's No Avoiding Google+
Google is challenging Facebook by using a controversial tactic: requiring people to use the Google+ social network.
The result is that people who create an account to use Gmail, YouTube and other Google services—including the Zagat restaurant-review website—are also being set up with public Google+ pages that can be viewed by anyone online. Google+ is a Facebook rival and one of the company's most important recent initiatives as it tries to snag more online advertising dollars.
The impetus comes from the top. Google Chief Executive Larry Page has sought more aggressive measures to get people to use Google+, two people familiar with the matter say. Google created Google+ in large part to prevent Facebook from dominating the social-networking business.
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Mr. Page, the CEO, about a year ago pushed the idea of requiring Google users to sign on to their Google+ accounts simply to view reviews of businesses, the people say. Google executives persuaded him not to pursue that strategy, fearing it would irritate Google search users, the people say. A Google spokeswoman declined to comment on the matter.
The article says that, once created, your Google+ account will be retroactively connected to any Google / Zagat reviews that were previously written anonymously.
I’m actually looking forward to seeing some connections like this. Someone wrote a Google review for my hostel a long time ago that simply said, “you suckj” I look forward to the day when Google attaches their real name to it and I can finally see who that was. Check out your hostel's Google reviews. Maybe some of you have similar comments that are about to lose their anonymity.
The real result of this tactic is most likely going to be that many people will suddenly have a Google+ account that they are totally unaware of. While it will bump up the official number or Google+ accounts, it doesn’t necessarily mean that they will actually have any more users.
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