YouTube Wants Users to Know They'll Soon Need Google Accounts

Posted 10/29/2009 at 12:40pm | by Bart Salisbury

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Maybe it’s something to freak out about, then maybe it’s not. The New York Times is reporting that YouTube will be phasing out its own accounts and requiring its members to use a Google login.

Freaky? Yeah, says the Times. Each social networking service develops its own culture. When culture boundaries are breeched, as when Flicker mingled its vital essence with that of Yahoo, Flicker diehards freaked-out--the reason they were at Flicker was because they didn’t want to be at Yahoo. Would the same be true for YouTube users?

Possibly, but we may never know. The Times later corrected itself. Only those YouTubers who have a Google account associated with their YouTube account will be affected. And only to the extent they’d have to use their Google password. They can still use either their YouTube or Google username. If you don’t have a Google account associated with your YouTube account, then nothing happens, so there’s no reason to freak out. Basically, only those who have already co-mingled their vital essence will be affected, and they probably don’t care.

For the record, the Times “apologizes[s] for getting the story wrong.” Some solace, I suppose, to those who had gone off the deep end after reading the initial report.

Image Credit: Google