Google+, the ultimate first word problem.

Ok, so as is the usual reaction to change, the internet world has once again flipped its shit. If by some reason you live in rather rock like surroundings, Google has changed its YouTube service to require a user to have a Google+ account in order to make and manage comments on videos. This change in service, much like any Facebook redesign or update to a phones operating system, has lead the online community to act as though the people in charge have stepped into their homes, murdered their families and shit on their carpets. Quite simply, to overreact terribly and flock to their beloved internet to spread the word of their hatred and disgust of such minor and insignificant changes like the ultimate first world problem it is.

Let’s get one thing out of the way before I continue typing, I like Google+, I think it’s a far better social network than Facebook which is a site that everyone seems to use, yet also seems to complain about! All people ever do is bitch and moan about Facebook yet no one ever does anything about it! So either stop complaining, or find something else. The fact is, most of you reading this don’t use Google+, so how do you know that it’s so bad? How do you know it’s not better than the site you complain so much about? The fact is you don’t know, so how about trying it out before slamming it down?

Ok so rant over, now to continue with my original post. First off, YouTube has been notorious for years for its level of immature and hate filled comment sections and something had to be done. What Google have done is actually quite clever. Now that you have to sign in with social networking credentials, it makes commenting slightly less anonymous. Yes you can make a fake profile, but you still have to sign up which is a lengthy process many trolls might not bother to go through just to write the words ‘this video is gay’ or 'go kill yourself' underneath Charlie Bit My Finger. Taking away the anonymity is a fair start to helping YouTube filter out those trolls that hide behind their pseudonyms and ruin the YouTube experience for many people including me.

My second point is that Google are not forcing you into actually using the Google+ site itself, you simply need to sign in with it. Plus, if you had a YouTube account, you already had a Google account, and therefore already had a Google+ account, it just needed to be activated. Google aren't making you do much more than before, just activating something you already had, and nobody is making you actually use it for anything more than you already did. It’s called Google+ for a reason, and that’s because as a whole it’s an advanced version of a normal Google account with access to more services and options.

If YouTube was owned by Facebook or Microsoft for example, you would more than likely need to log in with a Facebook, or Microsoft account to use it, and I bet no one would question that. This is the same deal here, I think many people forget that YouTube is a Google product, and you need a Google account to use it. Google+ is not just a social networking site, it’s a central hub for connecting Google's services so that they can all work together. No one is making you use all of the services, but some are needed for others to work. Same as you need a Microsoft account to use your Xbox online although you might never use Outlook email or Skydrive, and an Apple ID to download an app even though you might not use iTunes to download music or backup to iCloud. These accounts are the framework that make all of a company’s services connect seamlessly without the need for multiple logins and ID’s.

In short here, no one is making you use the Google+ site, the account is just a common API that can better align all of Google's services into one simple login. Regardless of how many of Google's products you use, one login is much better than two or three or more and it helps Google to integrate those services together for the people that do use them.

I also watched a video from some people I subscribe to on YouTube and one of them gave another great advantage for the content providers such as themselves, The advantage is that with the new G+ notifications, they can see who's sharing your video and what kind of a response it's getting outside of YouTube. That's a great tool for the video makers, who before would only know how well their video was doing by the often useless comments in YouTube itself. Now if the video gets shared on G+, they can see that, and what people on G+ thought of it.

That's another thing people need to remember, these changes are not just for the viewer, but for the people making serious content for YouTube too. Without those people, the rest of YouTube is mainly cat videos and clips of Family Guy. Google is trying to provide a better experience for all.  

I do agree however that the implementation isn't great so far, there are some problems with it but there are always going to be problems with new systems. A famous YouTuber that I follow on Twitter posted that he was invited to a meeting with Google and reported that they are taking feedback from people to make improvements. They should definitely take away the ability to post ASCII, that's the only part about the new system I don't agree with because right now, the only people making the integration a problem are the trolls abusing the new system to post endless text based pictures of dicks and tanks. Once that ability gets removed or restricted the comments will start to get a whole lot better.

For now though, just stop whining about it! So what, you have to use the SAME email and password as you did before to use a FREE service in which you can upload gigabytes upon gigabytes of your inane content? Boo hoo, why don't you let the homeless or the starving children in the world know how bad your problems are! Get over it, live your lives and worry about things that are actually fucking important!