New York — As part of its continuous attempt to track everything you do on the web, search engine giant Google is now treading YouTube users further pushing those who sign up for YouTube accounts to embrace a Google account as well.
“People signing up for YouTube accounts means automatically signing up for a matching Google Accounts, which lets you access to YouTube, as well as other Google services such as iGoogle, Reader, and Docs,” YouTube software engineer James Phillips said in an official blog post on Thursday announcing the new development on The YouTube Blog.
“We feel that by jointly connecting accounts, you can take greater advantage of our services both on YouTube and on Google,” Phillips wrote.
“Especially, as we start to roll out new features in the future that will be powered by Google technology.”
“Some of the new attributes we expect to roll out down the road may require a Google Account. In these cases, we will be able to help you link your YouTube Account to a Google Account if you want to check the features out.”
YouTube members who do not have Goggle accounts will still be able to use the video-sharing service, but unfortunately they may not be able to take advantage of the new features that will be added from time to time, according to Phillips.
Google accounts provide access to iGoogle custom home pages, blog readers, text applications and other online services offered by the California firm.
Feedback in an online forum accompanying the posting by Phillips ranged from “real cool” to “I hate it”.
Undoubtedly, many will welcome the extra convenience, and it appears that Google is planning some sort of content cross-pollination. In response to the news, Cnet blogger Matt Asay has cried out “Dominate me, Google. Please.”
The matter here is not just the combining of accounts intrinsically. It is in fact the breadth of the personal data stored by a single (public) company. The move empowers Google the ability to readily track your web behavior across both its own services and the world’s most popular video sharing site, which it acquired in 2006. And let us not forget that its own services include search and Gmail. Google’s ultimate aim is to understand as much about your online habits as possible and then target ads accordingly.
Google has been expected to weave YouTube, and hopefully its millions of users worldwide, into its online offerings since it bought the video-sharing site in 2006 for $US1.65 billion ($A2.21 billion).