It encourages a better community feeling than the 140 chars allows for on Twitter, the content posted ends up being a lot more interesting, richer and more positive than the constant dump o' hate I see in my Tweet stream. Personally I'd prefer more ex-bloggers start posting on G+ than micro blogging their opinions on Twitter
http://techcrunch.com/2012/03/26/google-the-charge-of-the-li...
It really is just a single monumental mistake, everything about Google+ except for the product itself, which was always high quality (but the wrong product to begin with).
(OT: I just pitched you a story to your email:)
this is how to opt out:
https://www.facebook.com/settings?tab=ads§ion=social&vie...
(select "Pair my social actions with ads for - No one")
Article about it:
http://www.forbes.com/sites/anthonykosner/2013/01/21/faceboo...
There were several HN posts on this as well will update once I find them...
In retrospect, Buzz might have been their last classically-Googly project.
Protip for the many Google employees that browse HN for fun or just to flag positive stories about Apple off the front page: the first 100 times I said "no" were not a mistake, I really don't want to sign up for G+. Get that shit out of my face forever pls.
Quite the obstacle course.
http://i.imgur.com/4guE3FI.png
But I was able to click "Not Now" and proceed.
They only use your reviews in ads for strangers if you share it with everyone. Just share it with one circle, and only people in that circle will see it, if I understand this correctly.
If I want to recommend something to my friends on Plus, don't I already have a "Friends" circle I can broadcast to?
Under the heading "Setting: Shared Endorsements in Ads" the copy reads as if this setting was an opt-out type of thing.
The actually text next to the checkbox reads as if this setting was an opt-in type of thing.
I understand it took some bad publicity before it happened, but I commend Google for correcting their mistake and making it easy to disable.
I would have made a series of focused opt-in pages that popup in stages over months (less annoying, less confusing) and sell each recommendation function as a cool feature with real benefits, like increased SEO authority, traffic to your Google Plus page, etc.
That said this makes me not want to comment, thumbs-up, plus one anything.
I'm not so sure if it's a default setting. I guess it inherits some other settings that Google used to have earlier. I have always allowed Google to use info from me, as they pleased. So, when I visted the link, it was checked for me.
Disclaimer: I'm a Google employee.
Google is advertising the change extensively, and they explain it in simple English.
Google lets you opt out.
And if you were already opted out, they retain that more restrictive setting without you having to do anything.
I personally don't want to be an unpaid shill for anybody, which is why I refuse to create G+ or Facebook accounts.
But I have to recognize that Google's approach is far more open and honest than Facebook's.
Wouldn't it be more stark if Google didn't do this at all?
It's really a fairly benign feature to begin with as you have to actually +1 a page before it shows up. At any rate, this checkbox appears to remove that so that others can't see your +1s in search results. I don't really understand why you would +1 something and not want people to see though, although I'm guessing it has something to do with an employee of companyA +1ing companyBs page by mistake and making it look like an endorsement.
A couple of days ago, it starting requiring me to sign up to add a video to my list of favourites, and the API throws an error - probably for the same reason.
http://gdata.youtube.com/feeds/base/users/<youtube-username>/favorites?alt=rss&v=2&orderby=published&client=ytapi-youtube-profileSo basically people who technically have a G+ account but never use it shouldn't be affected, because you have to use G+ to generate this content.
This was turned off by default for me when I edited my Google Profile (not a paid user).
Shared Endorsements Off edit