Google VP offers up fixes to Google+ name policy, debunks myths. Google has already admitted it made mistakes with its user name policy on Google+, its fledgling social network, and now we have further word on how the company plans to fix its mess. Google will warn users with names in violation of its terms of service before it suspends their Google+ accounts, provide clearer naming instructions during the sign-up process, and add support for nicknames, VP of product for Google+ Bradley Horowitz wrote on the service tonight. “We’ve noticed that many violations of the Google+ common name policy were in fact well-intentioned and inadvertent and for these users our process can be frustrating and disappointing,” Horowitz wrote. In addition to the warning for violating names, Google has created a helpful support document to make it clear how to fix your Google+ name, and it will also be more transparent about the steps and time frames users will need to take heed of.
Are you making or losing money with marketing automation? Google+ and “Real Names” In my last post, I noted the differences and similarities between the user policies of Google+ and Facebook. One of my particular concerns for a long time has been Facebook’s policy of requiring users to identify using their real names, so, while Google+ stated in its community standards that Google+ would be an “identified” service (see Google’s differentiation between unidentified, pseudonymous, and identified), I was heartened by the fact that, at the very least, they would allow users to utilize the name by which they are commonly known, thereby eliminating incidents like the one Michael Anti experienced with Facebook. Today, I spotted my first example of Google+ cracking down on a user for violating this particular rule.
Ken Wehr, who publicly posted about his experience on Google+, found his account disabled for initially using his initials (“k s w”) to identify himself. First, I will say this: Google+ is still in beta, and therefore so are its policies. P.S. Search, Plus Your World Plus Your Pseudonym. By Trevor Gilbert On January 23, 2012 Today, Google is marking a “milestone” in their journey to make Google+ the dominant social network. The “milestone”? Pseudonyms. You may remember last year, after Google+ launched, that many people tried to sign up for the service using pseudonyms. Shockingly, Google didn’t want people to use pseudonyms, even if they were their de facto names. Like most technology snafus (save SOPA), that scandal quickly subsided. Wait, it turns out yes. Let’s take the hypothetical example Bradley Horowitz conveniently provides in his post on the change. It is a jerk move for Google to hold off on pseudonyms when users specifically asked for it from the beginning.
What does this show us about Google? Search, Plus Your World wouldn’t have worked if pseudonyms remained disabled. The entire thing is a joke, really. Google+ “Doesn’t Give a Damn” About Your Real Name, But Still Doesn’t Want You to Use a Pseudonym. Ever since it launched, Google+ has been criticized for strictly enforcing a real name policy. You couldn't just use your gamer tag or other name you would use to signify your online or offline identity. Instead, you had to use your real name to use the service (though you could obviously just make one up of you felt like doing so). Today, Google announced that it's naming policy was going to become more "inclusive," but that doesn't mean you can now just become CmdrBurrito on Google+ because you felt so today. Show Me Your Papers Instead, the only way to use a real pseudonym is by more or less applying to Google to use one. Among these possible proofs of an established identity are "references to an established identity offline in print media, news articles, etc," "scanned official documentation, such as a driver’s license" and/or "proof of an established identity online with a meaningful following.
" Google Doesn't "Give a Damn" if You Use Your Real Name. The first Google+ privacy flaw. Google+ steers clear of privacy missteps. With the launch of a new social networking platform, Google seems determined not to repeat the privacy missteps it made last year with Google Buzz. Public criticism , some valid, some not , prompted Google to make a series of quick changes to Buzz a few days after its launch in February 2010.
Google finally settled allegations of unintentional oversharing in an agreement inked with the Federal Trade Commission earlier this year. When creating Google+ , which debuted yesterday, the Mountain View, Calif. -based company took pains to ensure there's no danger of that happening again. Google+ sports a clean, well-designed user interface that arguably offers greater privacy protections than Facebook, which has made more and more information public over time. Some examples: Google+ has, by my count, 13 privacy settings, each with an average of a sentence or two of text to explain them. Google+ is still in testing, but you can request to be added to the list. Google made my son cry. Alex is 10 years old. He has had a Gmail account since September 2009 — almost two years. He uses email to keep in touch with his grandparents, who live in California and Scotland.
He is signed up to get newsletters and updates from his favourite online hangouts, like Roblox and Hyves. He has just started using Google Chat to chat with me over IM, even though I’m usually just sitting at my desk on the other side of the room. Yesterday, he noticed that Google+ was enabled for his account. Yay! So he made himself a Google Profile, and added me and Abi to his family circle. Today, he tried to use Gmail, but found that his account was locked. Alex was in tears. This is a kid who lives on the computer. He has learned to live with the disappointment of not being able to have his own YouTube account, because YouTube asks for your date of birth on the sign-up page. Just because no-one reads the Terms of Service, doesn’t mean that they don’t apply.
You made my son cry, Google.