After claiming that the site will not allow users to have fake identities, Google’s social networking service, Google+, seems to have relented to user demand, allowing users to create pseudonyms.
Digital Trends reported Google exec Vic Gundotra and Google co-founder Sergey Brin revealed the site will "support other forms of identity."
The search engine company launched Google+ in late June, a move considered as the company’s most ambitious one in social networking since co-founder Larry Page took over as chief executive in April.
The new patform, which claimed that it offered better privacy features to users, was well received after the launch. Within two weeks of the launch, the site had over 10 million users according to Paul Allen, the founder of Ancestry.com. Google+ has over 25 million users now, compared with microblogging site Twitter’s over 300 million users, and chief rival Facebook’s over 750 million users.
But several analysts said many times that the service is not as popular as many believe. Facebook game partnerships director Sean Ryan has called Google+ a dud, saying that the social networking site failed on three counts: originality, number of users and appeal to software developers.
On 20 September, Google+ opened to the public. Web trackers had said that traffic surged 1,269% in the week, when the announcement was made. However, traffic data from analytics firm Chitika showed that the social network has erased those gains entirely, according to Readwriteweb.
Last week, Google co-founder and chief executive Larry Page had to counter negative reports about the site’s waning popularity. He claimed that its online social networking service Google+ has got 40 million users.
"People are flocking to Google+ at an incredible rate and we are just getting started," Page said.
Google has maintained that it will stick to its anti-anonymity, no-nickname policy, which is considered to be a major deterrent to people who are hesitant of revealing their true identity in the Web world for fear of hacking and identity theft. Its chief rival, Facebook, allows people to have nicknames. The latest move by Google seems to made to address the privacy concerns of users.
However, Google said it won’t overshare on its social network Google+ like Facebook does, according to Inquirer.
Gundotra said, "We want to do social in a way that is more like real life," he said, according to CNN. "So I think you’re going to see us taking a very privacy-centered approach."
"There is a reason why every thought in your head doesn’t come out of your mouth. We do not believe in oversharing. We think curation matters," Gundotra said.
