Earlier this month we told you about Google’s plan to delete private profiles, starting on July 31, 2011. Well my friends today is the fateful day, and Google isn’t wasting anytime with the deletion. They recently updated their help section post to include the following:
“If you have a private profile, you will see the following message at the top of your profile with options to make it public or delete it:
Your full name is not being displayed on your profile page. This option is no longer supported in Google profiles.
Display my full name publicly | Delete my profile”
Do you think this will have a negative effect on Google+ when it launches to the public? Tell us your thoughts.
Essentially Google is giving privacy conscientiousness users an ultimatum, and we’re not sure how well this will sit with Google+ users.
One interesting fact worth pointing out is that the initial help section post stated, “keep in mind that your full name and gender are the only required information that will be displayed on your profile”. With the new updated information, there is no mention of gender at all. This coincides with a video update that Google+ Profiles Product Manager Frances Haugen shared.
It’ll be interesting to see how many people delete their profiles, or have them deleted, simply to avoid displaying their full name.