Unfortunately it is not easy being a YouTuber since about mid-2011 as Google have upped the ante about YouTube and Google integration making it impossible to use YouTube solus since 11th of January 2011 and now introducing us to a further complication to our YouTube life by the introduction of Google+ for YouTube in early 2012.
We first got Google+ Profiles as standard for our new YouTube channels where previously at least we only had to have a Google account (and eventually a GMail by default). They were the un-linkable kind IF you knew how (view the video on How to Create A YouTube Channel Without A Google+ Profile (CURRENT 2013) here).
Then we got Google+ Page opportunities and it began to get complex, if only because of the options +Pages introduces into the equations. Google+ Pages are "slave" Google accounts, almost products in their own right. They are a Facebook page-like facility for public representations of bands, organisations and other branding opportunities and not mere This Is Who I Am At Google like their +Profile counterparts. But though incredibly complicated to get your head around if you don't quite follow how Google works in regard to YouTube Google saw fit to make the linkage irreversible after 14 days. I guess because the changing of a name to a brand and the ability to constantly change the +Page only opened doors for the nefarious types, giving them the ability to change their YouTube "name" at will.
To go into a bit more detail here- I don't have an issue with the 14 day cooling off thing. I don't even have a problem with the fact that permanent doesn't have to mean permanent (Google will, under certain circumstances, unlink even a +Page for you) but I do take issue with the lack of clear explanation of what is what. To me information is king. Why oh why can they not just let us KNOW?
After that we had a few hiccups with the like of video responses being removed, all the while the "suggestions" to link to Google+ in some form escalated...
And then it really hit home- if you want to comment to someone who has Google+ (either by design or by default/mistake) you too must have Google+. In fact I have not been able to escape the need to get +TLFUed! I got mine when I wanted to post images to the YouTube help forum and have some sort of link to information about me and the links which help us. So- for me this means that that which I would rather not have, I grudgingly use and still seek to understand for our communal good.
Will we all need to have Google+ if we wish to use YouTube one day? Without a doubt. And it will not be long now, I can tell you.
Will I bail or will I go down with a whimper? The truth? I don't actually know. I prefer my account experiences less integrated and more compartmentalised. Call me old-fashioned. :) I might see you around or I might decide to concentrate more time on my website.
May the +Force be with you, not yet.
No comments:
Post a Comment