Gmail users no longer have to embrace Google+

GOOGLE HAS STOPPED requiring that new subscribers to its services join its social network Google+.

Google+ is something of an also-ran among social networks and does not have the same traction as Facebook or Twitter, for example.

Perhaps hoping to increase user numbers and generate network momemtum, Google insisted that its new Gmail users adopt its social network by signing up for Google+ accounts, and it has been doing so since the beginning of 2012.

That requirement is no more, and neither is Vic Gundotra still the Google executive in charge of the network. When he departed this spring the suggestion was the Google+ might follow him.

Now, according to a report on Larry Kim's Wordstream blog, the writing is on the wall, although unfortunately for Google, it's probably on a Facebook wall.

Kim said that the requirement was dropped quietly this month, and Google confirmed this move over the weekend.

A Google spokesperson told The INQUIRER that the requirement to sign up for both Gmail and Google+ has been changed, but added that Google+ is still a thing and that if people want it, they can still get it.

'We updated the signup experience in early September,' said the spokesperson. 'Users can now create a public profile during signup, or later, if and when they share public content for the first time (like a restaurant review, Youtube video or Google+ post).'

A new 'No thanks' button will now allow users to skip creating a Google+ account when they signs up for a Gmail, Google Docs, or other Google account.

Gundotra's Google+ account still exists and remains active, so thats something. µ