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Google+ Accounts Now Used for Play Store Reviews

Over the last little while, I have contacted developers of apps with various issues and suggestions I have. In the Play store, you can find out how to contact the developers. Every time I have sent a developer an email with my comments and feed back, I have gotten a very timely response.

Integrating G+ with the Play store is supposed to allow developers to contact G+ users regarding reviews and comments they have left. I am wondering how much of an effort will developers make in contacting users about their reviews. I do see a number of reviews where it appears the user does not quite understand how to use the app properly. I am also wondering how users feel when they are contacted by a developer via G+.

When I email a developer I am expected a response. Generally I do not like messages that I get out of the blue from someone I do not know. Perhaps I am a bit suspicious in these days of SPAM and phishing attacks.
 
I personally hate this change. I have no intentions of creating a Google+ because I already use Facebook and don't want another social networking program to clutter my stuff.

I used to just be able to write a bunch of quick reviews for different things that I have tried to inform the general public and give feedback to developers.

I guess I may have to create a false plain inactive account just to write reviews?
 
Anyone noticed you now 'MUST' have a google+ account to review and even rate games in the play store now?

This is madness. I hated G+ so deleted my account months ago. Now I have to use it to post reviews in the Play Store?? Mm, NO. I do not want or need it. Personally I hate the whole social media 'evil' that is out there. This has put me off Android completely! :mad:
 
JAy3001 said:
Anyone noticed you now 'MUST' have a google+ account to review and even rate games in the play store now?

This is madness. I hated G+ so deleted my account months ago. Now I have to use it to post reviews in the Play Store?? Mm, NO. I do not want or need it. Personally I hate the whole social media 'evil' that is out there. This has put me off Android completely! :mad:
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Why Don't you like it? Is it that you feel you can't say what you really want to say?

I don't understand the issue. You're just validating the review, just as you would on any other part of google.
 
Because it doesn't "just" show in market. posts on your Google account. Read privacy issues on Google +.
 
I do admit that being forced into this is quite annoying. I also see how the idea can be helpful from Google's POV by trying to get more people on G+ and try to convert them away from Facebook and/or Twitter. I just use all 3 because each has their own purpose.
 
JAy3001 said:
Anyone noticed you now 'MUST' have a google+ account to review and even rate games in the play store now?

This is madness. I hated G+ so deleted my account months ago. Now I have to use it to post reviews in the Play Store?? Mm, NO. I do not want or need it. Personally I hate the whole social media 'evil' that is out there. This has put me off Android completely! :mad:
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sherri said:
Agree 100%!!! Hate Google +
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I also completely agree!

I too, have no use for Social Networking at all. I have never used Facebook, nor My Space, nor Twitter. And I will not use Google +!

I believe forcing people to have a G+ account to rate app, not only hurts users like us, but also hurt devlopers.

Just to keep my YouTube account, I actually had to go through the BS of signing up for a Google+ account, signing into my YouTube account, changing the setting in my YouTube account, and the deleting the Google+ account.

While I love my Android phone and my Gmail account, if Google forces me to have a Google+ account to have to use them, the I will stop using my Gmail account, and switch to a Windows Phone.
 
Nope. No issue complaining with my real name. But not all of my Google+ contacts want to know my opinion, nor do I want to know theirs. I have friends who are intense "gamers" and they rate and comment on all the games they try. I have no use for this, so to see it in a feed is annoying. Also, I don't use Google+ for social networking. I do have a Twitter account and a FB account if i want that. Very rarely use them, but that is my choice. Now, if i comment on an application, anyone who added me to a Google + account will automatically see it. Seems dumb. If I want opinions of an app, I would rather see it in the market place, as it is from people liking for the same type of app as me....

I have friends who have Google + accounts but do not have android phones. I do not needed to be notified every time they post about an iPhone app ....and vice versa. Make sense?
 
sherri said:
Nope. No issue complaining with my real name. But not all of my Google+ contacts want to know my opinion, nor do I want to know theirs. I have friends who are intense "gamers" and they rate and comment on all the games they try. I have no use for this, so to see it in a feed is annoying. Also, I don't use Google+ for social networking. I do have a Twitter account and a FB account if i want that. Very rarely use them, but that is my choice. Now, if i comment on an application, anyone who added me to a Google + account will automatically see it. Seems dumb. If I want opinions of an app, I would rather see it in the market place, as it is from people liking for the same type of app as me....

I have friends who have Google + accounts but do not have android phones. I do not needed to be notified every time they post about an iPhone app ....and vice versa. Make sense?
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Well to be honest, this is a form of social media and networking, correct?

I haven't made a review since the change, but is there no option to make it private or to share only with those who are in your android/google circle (if you have one).

It may seem dumb to you, but if a person added you they want to see your content.

I'm trying to look at things from both sides. I like that google is make people use thier google ID as it adds some credibility and less likely to be a fake or made up person. I wish they would institute this on youtube as it may cut down on the "First", racist, homophobic, spam, or off topic, etc. postings.
 
I have no issue using my name and user id in the store. Developer wants my opinion, and others thinking of getting the app want opinion, fine. My problem is it goes outside the store. Why does everyone I ever had a Google contact with need to see that?

If you and I are friends and I choose to read your opinions, great. Twitter and Facebook both use "user names", or privacy settings can be changed. Google+ doesn't.
 
Okay, I just wrote a review for the Pinterest app using the Play web site (as opposed to from my phone or tablet) and so far it has NOT posted anything to my Google+ stream.

I always keep G+ open and running in my web browser, so we will see if that changes.

If not, it would seem that (at first glance) the link between having a Google+ account and reviewing apps is just to have a name with the review.

As i understand it, everyone who creates a Gmail account (which you must have to use the Play store on an android device [as we know you don't HAVE to have a Gmail account to use an Android device as long as you are okay with not using certain apps or using the Play store] ) automatically also has a Google+ account.

Unless I am mistaken, then, you don't have to create a Google+ account to leave reviews, you just have to acknowledge that you understand one is being linked to the other.

So if these reviews are not being posted to your Google+ stream, and if everyone with a Gmail account has one by default, then the issue is somewhat moot. You can post reviews with no fear they will end up on your G+ page, and you will never have to actually use Google+ itself for anything else.

In other words, while you are being "forced" to acknowledge that the name linked to your Google+ account will show in your reviews, you are not actually being forced to use Google+. If someone clicks the link to your name in the app review, and you aren't actually using Google+, that user will be taken to an empty G+ page with nothing but your name.

Of course, that may all change if it shows up in my Google+ feed, but in the 5 - 8 minutes or so since I posted the review, nothing has shown up on my G+ feed (which I have been intermittently refreshing while writing this).

EDIT: If you want to test this, any of you who don't use G+, write a review. After submitting the review, click on your name in the review and it will take you to your G+ page. If you aren't actually using G+ for anything, there shouldn't be anything there, not even the review you left.

UPDATE: As of 1:10pm (about 40 minutes since I posted it) the review I left for the Pinterest app still does NOT appear in my G+ feed. So... unless it takes a REALLY long time for it to cross-pollinate (which i doubt), your fears of being "forced" to use Google+ can be assuaged. It looks like you can post app reviews without ever having to actually use Google+. The only difference will be that your real name will appear, and if someone clicks on it, they will see your empty, lonely G+ page.

As of 3:53 it still does not show in my G+ feed so...


TL-DR: App reviews you leave in Google Play will NOT be posted to Google+. You can review apps and never need to use the Google+ account that is created for you automatically whether you like it or not.
 
KENNECTED said:
I haven't made a review since the change, but is there no option to make it private or to share only with those who are in your android/google circle (if you have one).
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I stopped reviewing apps in protest as well.

mjschmidt said:
In other words, while you are being "forced" to acknowledge that the name linked to your Google+ account will show in your reviews, you are not actually being forced to use Google+. If someone clicks the link to your name in the app review, and you aren't actually using Google+, that user will be taken to an empty G+ page with nothing but your name.
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If you do you G+, then it will automatically link to your account. I don't want this to happen.
 
Stuntman said:
I stopped reviewing apps in protest as well.



If you do you G+, then it will automatically link to your account. I don't want this to happen.
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As I pointed out in the post above, app reviews you leave in Google Play will NOT be posted to Google+. You can review apps and never need to use the Google+ account that is created for you automatically whether you like it or not.
 
I said in another post - I signed up for Gmail when it first came out. I don't remember seeing anything in the TOS that you would be required to use all services or whatever services Google might initiate. The same for store under the name Market. All you needed was a Gmail account. To use Market fully, any customer should be able to leave a review as it was before. I also don't remember a full profile being necessary. Google just accepted what I put in there long ago. Google changed the rules in mid stream on some of us. Some of used YouTube before Google got it. Isn't agreeing to the TOS the same as a contract? MS and some other companies think so. If the TOS is binding on users, then it's binding on the company.
 
zuben el genub said:
I said in another post - I signed up for Gmail when it first came out. I don't remember seeing anything in the TOS that you would be required to use all services or whatever services Google might initiate. The same for store under the name Market. All you needed was a Gmail account. To use Market fully, any customer should be able to leave a review as it was before. I also don't remember a full profile being necessary. Google just accepted what I put in there long ago. Google changed the rules in mid stream on some of us. Some of used YouTube before Google got it. Isn't agreeing to the TOS the same as a contract? MS and some other companies think so. If the TOS is binding on users, then it's binding on the company.
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So the solution is to not use the products.
 
It's the principle. If Google wanted to change policy in midstream for prior users, then the prior users should have been notified by email. I've seen no notices. I saw the information on + to post reviews elsewhere than here or Play.

I do know that Google will notify you. I got an email about Google Voice not having enough information for a forwarding phone number, and unless I verified the number, Google could no longer forward calls. Since I don't use GV, have never got a call on GV, I ignored the message. Since I did get a notice, I have no complaint even if GV discontinues the number.

I don't use most of the services. I don't believe in one size fits all. I've spread it around and kept everything separate as far as I can.
 
zuben el genub said:
I said in another post - I signed up for Gmail when it first came out. I don't remember seeing anything in the TOS that you would be required to use all services or whatever services Google might initiate. The same for store under the name Market. All you needed was a Gmail account. To use Market fully, any customer should be able to leave a review as it was before. I also don't remember a full profile being necessary. Google just accepted what I put in there long ago. Google changed the rules in mid stream on some of us. Some of used YouTube before Google got it. Isn't agreeing to the TOS the same as a contract? MS and some other companies think so. If the TOS is binding on users, then it's binding on the company.
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Except that most (if not all TOS) include the right of the company to update/modify the TOS/EULA at any time, and that they will let users know about it.

Google did that.

Let's be clear about what's really going on. Google is competing with Apple (iOS), Microsoft (Windows 8), and Facebook, and to do so they are moving closer and closer to Google, and all its products, being part of an "eco-system".

If you haven't heard that term used before in this context (and if not, where have you been?) Google isn't the first to do this. In the present context, that would be apple. With their walled garden approach to iOS, and integration of iPhone, iPod, iPad and the new iMacs, their intention is to get you to buy in to the whole "Apple" lifestyle, and by keeping you there generate more revenue.

MS and Facebook are doing the same thing in their own ways.

Google is just playing this same game in order to compete. One of the reason a lot of non-technical people gush about Apple is because of this ecosystem concept, that everything "just works" together. They can buy in to the whole thing, and never have to leave it, and be where their friends are, etc.

So that is the real reason all these changes were made. Android is no longer its own "thing", nor is Gmail, or any of the other Google components, they are all part of one big thing, which, if you wanted to, you could refer to as the real Google OS.

As I've said before, NO ONE is forcing you to use Google+. You NEVER have to use it. If you leave an app review in the Play store now, the ONLY thing it will show is your name as it is associated with your account. When someone clicks on your name, it will take them to that G+ page which will have nothing BUT your name if you've never used it. Your reviews will NOT show up on Google+. Anyone who says they will is lying, or is ignorant of the truth.

SUPER USER TIP: If you are going to keep using Android, and don't want your real name associated with your Play reviews, create a new Gmail address, and give it the name "Bob Johnson". Since Google doesn't require you to provide ID to sign up, they will not know it isn't you. Use that new Gmail account for your Android device.

TL-DR: The reality of it is as follows:

1. Companies do reserve the right to change TOS/EULA, and you agree to this when you accept the TOS/EULA. Read them.

2. Companies let you know when they are updating/modifying TOS/EULA. Google did that too.

3. NO ONE is forcing you to use G+. You DO NOT need to post anything there, EVER.

4. If you leave a review on the Play store, it will NOT show up in G+. anyone who says otherwise is lying or mistaken.

From the Google Blog Jan 24th 2012: http://googleblog.blogspot.ca/2012/01/updating-our-privacy-policies-and-terms.html

And yes, I got an emaiil about that. and EVERY tech blog wrote about it.
 
mjschmidt said:
SUPER USER TIP: If you are going to keep using Android, and don't want your real name associated with your Play reviews, create a new Gmail address, and give it the name "Bob Johnson". Since Google doesn't require you to provide ID to sign up, they will not know it isn't you. Use that new Gmail account for your Android device.
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Wouldn't you have to purchase the app twice? I don't think you can comment on an app you did not pay for.
 
I really don't see an issue with a Google+ account being made since you never even have to check it and it won't bother you, you never even have to add information to it.

Personally I would love to see everyone switch to G+ just because it integrates so much better with Android compared to Facebook.
 
Well for me, I would be more than happy to have my name associated with my reviews of apps on the Play Store. I have no problem with my reviews being verified on the Play Store or on YouTube.

I just have no use for G+ or any other social networking. I do not like it being forced on me!

There are those of us who are prohibited from using social networking sites because of the terms of employment of either a former job or a current job.

Even if I created a fake G+ account or fake Facebook account, I would still be in violation of my terms of employment.

Also, to those that have stated the user reviews are not currently posted to a person's G+ account, what's to say that Google won't change the TOS again to require it.

My opinion is that Social Networking is fine for those that want to use it, but it should not be forced on people who do not want to use it.
 
Why do I need to integrate? Play already is. I don't happen to need the other stuff.

I'd also like to have the option to log out of Play on the phone like on the computer.
You can always tell your browser to remember password.

All social networks need to allow you to delete anything you wish without deleting an account, and they all need an "eff-off" button. Sometimes "unfriend" just isn't enough.
 
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