January 24, 2012 at 17:36Google+ allowed nicknames
Six months later, Google backtracked and officially allowed again to use pseudonyms on its social network. But not for everyone.
The new rules for names on Google+ profiles allow nicknames, but there are several restrictions: numbers and symbols are prohibited, the use of other people's aliases is prohibited, and you can not change the nickname more than once every 30 days. At the moment, you can use the nickname only next to the name, while indicating the real name remains mandatory.
To exclude the real name from the profile, you need to fill out a special form and provide Google with evidence that you are widely knownunder this nickname. As evidence, articles in the press, scanned documents, etc. are suitable. That is, pseudonyms are only allowed for the so-called Established Identities, such as Madonna or Umputun.
Recall that in July, Google began to block accounts not registered with a real name. The ban on pseudonyms caused a storm of indignation from ordinary users, as well as from celebrities who are known on the Internet by nicknames (for example, MG Siegler).
Google backtracked and suspended mass blocking. In October, Vic Gundotra, Google’s senior vice president of social services, promised to release “functionality with support for other forms of identification” in the next few months. And so it happened.
Google justifies such limited support for pseudonyms with internal statistics , according to which pseudonyms ask for registration only 0.1% of users. At the same time, 60% of them only want to add a nickname to their real name, and another 20% are companies that mistakenly opened an account with an individual. It turns out that "pure anonymous" make up only 0.02% of the Google+ audience.
Apparently, jwz was still right . According to Jamie Zawinski, user identification is needed to sell the audience to advertisers.
The new rules for names on Google+ profiles allow nicknames, but there are several restrictions: numbers and symbols are prohibited, the use of other people's aliases is prohibited, and you can not change the nickname more than once every 30 days. At the moment, you can use the nickname only next to the name, while indicating the real name remains mandatory.
To exclude the real name from the profile, you need to fill out a special form and provide Google with evidence that you are widely knownunder this nickname. As evidence, articles in the press, scanned documents, etc. are suitable. That is, pseudonyms are only allowed for the so-called Established Identities, such as Madonna or Umputun.
Recall that in July, Google began to block accounts not registered with a real name. The ban on pseudonyms caused a storm of indignation from ordinary users, as well as from celebrities who are known on the Internet by nicknames (for example, MG Siegler).
Google backtracked and suspended mass blocking. In October, Vic Gundotra, Google’s senior vice president of social services, promised to release “functionality with support for other forms of identification” in the next few months. And so it happened.
Google justifies such limited support for pseudonyms with internal statistics , according to which pseudonyms ask for registration only 0.1% of users. At the same time, 60% of them only want to add a nickname to their real name, and another 20% are companies that mistakenly opened an account with an individual. It turns out that "pure anonymous" make up only 0.02% of the Google+ audience.
Apparently, jwz was still right . According to Jamie Zawinski, user identification is needed to sell the audience to advertisers.