Rejoice, my friends, for the Google+ scourge has finally been purged from YouTube. Second only to Facebook, YouTube has a long history of pissing off users with its changes and redesigns, but whereas most of those updates were eventually accepted and even appreciated after a while, Google’s decision to integrate Google+ with YouTube is STILL causing people to complain. Google must have finally realized that people aren’t simply going to forget about this because the company has announced that it will be detaching Google+ from YouTube, as well as a few other Google services, over the next few months.
In a blog post published this morning, Google states that with Google+, a few things could have gone better. “While we got certain things right, we made a few choices that, in hindsight, we’ve needed to rethink,” Google admits. If you happen to use YouTube and Google+, then you will know that statement could not be more true. Before the changes that are set to take place, setting up a YouTube account attached to a Google+ profile, especially if you are a Google Apps user, was beyond ridiculous. And please, let’s not get started on the YouTube comments section regarding the involvement of Google+ and your need for a profile attached to your existing Google account. Beginning now and progressing into the near future, Google is taking steps, alongside YouTube, to detach Google+ from a few of its services. Now, Google+ will be used more as a place to view topics you are interested in, instead of a full blown social network where you go to view photos and see where your friends are. These changes have already begun taking place, as Google has removed most photo features from the social network, releasing a dedicated Photos service for all users, separate from Google+.