All Google+ Profiles Will Be Made Public By July 31

Want to keep your Google profile between you and your friends? Too bad.

Google+ profiles will not be allowed to remain private, with users required to make at least their full name and gender public in order to use the site.

Google wrote on its public profiles page of the upcoming change:

The purpose of Google Profiles is to enable you to manage your online identity. Today, nearly all Google Profiles are public. We believe that using Google Profiles to help people find and connect with you online is how the product is best used. Private profiles don’t allow this, so we have decided to require all profiles to be public.

Keep in mind that your full name and gender are the only required information that will be displayed on your profile; you’ll be able to edit or remove any other information that you don’t want to share.

Those who have private profiles and don't want to go public can either delete their profiles or wait and let Google delete them for you. All private profiles will be nixed after July 31, 2011, warns Google.

Still, Google+ will still let users retain certain controls over what other people can see. Users can remove their profiles from being found in Google search on their account page, where the "Help others find my profile in search results" button may be unchecked.

You can also see what your profile looks like to other people by going to your profile page, and clicking on "View profile as..." which will let you type in another person's name, or select "Anyone on the web." It's a lot like Facebook's profile preview feature.

Search Engine Land notes that Google made the right choice in announcing the change to users ahead of time:

Google Buzz encountered some issues early about forcing users to be public, but then changed its stance. This does not look to be the case with Google+ as these changes were premeditated and have been announced for almost 3 months now.

Comments

[EndTheGOP]

08:46 PM on 07/07/2011

Screw you, google, I'll delete mine.

[Dadzilla]

09:20 AM on 07/07/2011

Let me join the chorus of "so what". Nobody is forcing anyone to join this service and does anyone think Google will blow it a badly as Facebook, a site that seem to surprise us monthly with privacy issues?

[mlambush]

08:39 PM on 07/06/2011

My Google+ profile just shows my name and gender to whomever searches for it in a search engine. They can't see anything else. I really don't think that's a big deal

[Thomas Alan]

06:56 PM on 07/06/2011

I'm a fan of googles products but this just sounds like they are shooting themselves in the foot on this one.

[D-Barger]

06:55 PM on 07/06/2011

There is no such thing as a failed social network. There are only successful data mining operations.

[bryanzth]

09:40 PM on 07/06/2011

That's why I don't put nothing that's true or usable.

BZ.

[rh654]

06:33 PM on 07/06/2011

As long as Google will delete Private Profiles and just make them public - I am ok with this.

Google is a private company - Google+ Profiles is their application - if folks don't want to do play along with what Google wants to do they can go do something else.

Heck - make your own application that allows privacy and take over the world (if you find enough people who want to remain private that is)...

[Seedomang]

06:17 PM on 07/06/2011

Googlesoft. Gapple

[BadHaBritt]

06:10 PM on 07/06/2011

GOOGLE. THE INFORMATION SCAVENGER OF THE WORLD. YOU ARE JUST MONEY EARNING DATA, NOTHING MORE.

[LuLou Murder]

05:55 PM on 07/06/2011

That will last until the first stalker-murder happens. Don't be evil, Google.

[RevSpaminator]

05:23 PM on 07/06/2011

Wow. Facebook and Google are getting it wrong. People want privacy and they want anonymity. Anonymity was the lure of the internet to begin with. I understand the need for big brother to spy on what you say and do but don't expect everyone to embrace with open arms forced publicity. Even entertainers use stage names.

[max08]

05:56 PM on 07/06/2011

“Facebook and Google are getting it wrong.”

You are DEAD RIGHT. Absolutely correct.

Watch this video and check out Freedom in the Cloud, the video that started it all. Trust me when I say you will enjoying spending 15 minutes watching this. Guaranteed. And put on his Feb 5, 2010 Freedom video as well.
http://freedomboxfndn.mirocommunity.org/video/5/the-alternate-net-we-need-and-

[kopanko]

04:46 PM on 07/06/2011

Not sure I'm getting what this means:

1) Their profiles can't be made "private", meaning gender and name will be seen by everyone (but other things can be hidden according to audience)? or

2) Their profiles can't be made "private", meaning although gender and name are *required* and as a result will automatically be seen by everyone... and although you *don't have to* put in any other info, any other information in your profile is also public (i.e. no part of the profile can be made "private")

Can anybody clarify? I can easily live with #1: I'm fine with anyone seeing my name and gender. #2 however would be a deal-breaker: I want to be able to control what about myself I tell who. For example, I might not want the corporation I work for to know that political activism is important to me because this could be seen variously as positive or negative depending on where it's corporate political goals differ from my political goals as a citizen. People are not unidimensional, and as web interconnection becomes more important and vital, people need to be able to have trustworthy ways of refining and scrutinizing their levels of "public" and "private" identity. Anything less than that is really intolerable and a bit f@$cis+.

We don't need to let ourselves become dependent on technology that doesn't serve OUR requirements. Make them produce what WE want-products with the protections we need to serve US--then patronize them.

[Damn Damien]

05:12 PM on 07/06/2011

I am totally confused myself. I go on the Internet as my Avatar, I don't want my real name known everywhere, and don't care to add my name to the list of people fired for expressing their opinion on the Internet.

[max08]

05:58 PM on 07/06/2011

aWtch:
http://freedomboxfndn.mirocommunity.org/video/5/the-alternate-net-we-need-and-

[Azterix]

07:37 PM on 07/06/2011

Yea..Facebook has already done enough damages to people's privacy, so I don't need another social site that will be use to search people/individuals.

[lhanderson86]

04:34 PM on 07/06/2011

I like that much better than screenames. Back before Facebook was opened to the public, you had to use your name and a university email address to access it. That was WAY better. No spam, no creepers, no drama. Identifying yourself on the internet is not a bad thing.

[Damn Damien]

04:55 PM on 07/06/2011

If you do, it's certainly not prudent to say or put anything on the Internet that can get you in trouble in the future. Also, having a friend or foe that could post anything about you is not a great idea.

Actually, on second thought, identifying yourself on the Internet is a pretty bad idea!

[CanYouHearMeNow]

04:16 PM on 07/06/2011

Guess it's time to come up with another crafty name to go alone with all the others.
I got dibs on Sucks+

[apathyman]

04:01 PM on 07/06/2011

Google is slowly becoming more evil

[Bruckley]

03:48 PM on 07/06/2011

I do facebook but I really have no interest in this

[alexunlv]

03:53 PM on 07/06/2011

Pedobear! I'm sure the Feds will want to know who is behind the infamous Pedobear.