Google eliminating Google+ signup requirement from YouTube, other services to follow

Over the past few months Google has been consistently dialing back its Google+ integration into many of its other services. It all began with the announcement of the new Google Photos app, where the company would no longer require users to use Google+ to back up their photos and videos. Now these steps are becoming more apparent, as the company announced its next move to take Google+ integration out of more services.

In a blog post earlier today, Google explained that in the next few weeks, you will no longer need a Google+ account to comment, upload or create your own channel on YouTube. You’ll still need a Google account to access these features, though we’re sure most users will welcome this change to the video-sharing service. This change also means that comments you make on YouTube will show up on YouTube alone, not on Google+ like they do currently. This change starts rolling out today, while the removal of the Google+ requirement won’t go live for a few weeks.

In addition to these changes, the YouTube team also says it’s working hard to reduce the number of spam comments on its videos. The rate of dislikes on comments has already dropped by more than 35% across YouTube.

Google notes that YouTube is just the first of its services to receive this change – more will follow in the coming months. How do you feel about the big change? We know many users were upset when the company first rolled out this requirement, but we’d still like to know your thoughts in the comments below.