Update: And just like that, Google+ integration is live on Google Play. Go check it out!
If you’ve ever browsed Google Play, you have seen how the curtain of anonymity is used when posting reviews. Until now, users have been able to post feedback to apps with nothing linking back to them except for a nickname or first name. All that is set to change with Google’s upcoming integration of Google+ profiles.
It was recently rumored that Google intended to make a Google Plus profile a requirement for posting reviews. It appears that we are seeing the first step in this feature rollout. All comments previously left on Google Play will now be shown as written by “A Google User”. This looks to be independent from a specific Play Store apk update since both of my devices are showing version 3.10.9, but have different results when viewing the market.
Looking to the future, we can only speculate that full names as well as profile pictures will be viewable from the Play Store. Whether there will be full links back to user profiles is yet to be seen. Furthermore, this change opens up discussion into privacy rights and Google’s policies revolving what they can do with your information across their services. If you are set to private, will your profile still be linked via a review? Again, these are questions currently and we’ll be sure to find answers as soon as more information is available. One thing is for certain, Google is continuing to push their Google+ platform and this seems like a devious method to get people “using” the network.
This post was last modified on December 24, 2012 3:08 pm