Google account owners with Google+ enabled have the option to add a photo to their account profile to signify when they are logged in and help make it clear which account they are using. To extend these benefits to those account owners who haven’t added a photo to their account, we’ll be replacing the default Google account avatar with a custom avatar showing the account owner’s first or last initial (or digraph, where applicable), depending on the structure of their name. In some cases where initials are not available, a color alone will be used. Starting this week, Google Apps users* with Google+ enabled who haven’t set an account photo will see this change in the Google Bar. The change will be gradually reflected across all Google products over the coming months. *Note: Users with initials using scripts other than Latin, Cyrillic, Greek, Chinese, Japanese, and Korean will see this change later this year. Launch Details Release track: Launching to both Rapid release and Scheduled release Rollout pace: Gradual rollout (potentially longer than 3 days for feature visibility) Impact: All end users Action: Change management suggested/FYI Note: all launches are applicable to all Google Apps editions unless otherwise noted
This week we announced some upcoming changes to the way Google+ and YouTube will interact moving forward that will make commenting simpler and more streamlined. For Google Apps customers with YouTube enabled, there are few key changes to highlight:
Comments posted on YouTube will now appear only on YouTube, not also on Google+ (and vice-versa). We will remove the “Also share on Google+” checkbox from the YouTube commenting interface.
Individuals in a Google Apps domain will no longer have the ability to restrict comments made on YouTube to be viewable only in their domain. They will see a warning alerting them to the fact that their comments will be public:Similarly, Google Apps admins will no longer be be able to restrict YouTube comments to be viewable only in their domain by default.
Note: These changes will not impact any existing comments that have already been shared to Google+ or that have been shared privately. Those existing private comments and posts will stay private. These changes will only impact new comments on YouTube that are made going forward. Launch Details Release track: Launching to both Rapid release and Scheduled release during the week of Aug 3 Rollout pace: Gradual rollout (potentially longer than 3 days for feature visibility) Impact: All end users Action: Change management suggested/FYI For more information Google blog post YouTube blog post
Note: all launches are applicable to all Google Apps editions unless otherwise noted
With today’s launch, we’re introducing a new setting in the Google Apps Admin console that gives Apps admins control over whether or not people in their organizations can edit their profile names in Google+. By default, people can change the profile name that’s displayed for their Google+ profile. The new display name is also used in all other Google products, except for user-edited Gmail usernames. Starting today, admins can decide to disallow name changes. If changes are disallowed, all Google+ profile names that were previously changed by individuals will be replaced by their corresponding names in the Admin console directory. If admins decide to prevent users from changing their Google+ profile names, we recommend the following to minimize any confusion:
Inform people in your organization that their profile name might change—before you modify the setting.
Advise people to contact their Google Apps admin if they need to change their profile name after the setting is changed.
Visit the Help Center to learn more about managing Google+ profiles. Launch Details Release track: Launching to both Rapid release and Scheduled release Rollout pace: Full rollout (1-3 days for feature visibility) Impact: Admins only for new setting All end users on Google+ if the setting is changed Action: Change management suggested if changing setting For more information: Help Center: Manage Google+ Profiles Help Center: Prevent users from changing their Google+ profile names Note: all launches are applicable to all Google Apps editions unless otherwise noted
Today, we’re announcing Google+ Collections, a new way to group posts by topic.
Every collection is a focused set of posts on a particular topic, providing an easy way for people using Google+ to organize their interests and focus areas. For Google Apps customers, collections could be used for communicating to a project team or organizing an event, allowing followers to easily access all relevant posts in one location.
Each collection can be shared publicly, privately, or with a custom set of people. Once you create your first collection, your profile will display a new tab where other people can find and follow your collections. Posts in collections you follow will appear in your Home stream, with a link to easily jump right into the collection so you can get to similar content from that author.
Collections is available on Android and the web starting today, with iOS coming later.
Release track: Rapid release and Scheduled release
A few weeks ago, we launched the capability for Google Apps admins to give individual users a Google+ profile, in order to connect with other employees and encourage collaboration and sharing in the organization. We’re now extending this capability so that admins can perform automatic profile upgrades for an entire organizational unit (OU). From Apps > Additional Google Services > Google+ > Sharing settings, admins can simply select an OU that has been enabled for Google+ and check the box in Profile Creation settings to automatically create Google+ profiles for all members of the OU. After confirming that all people in the OU are older than 18 (and that no users under 18 will be added to the selected OU), Google+ profiles are then automatically created for all existing (and future) members of the OU. These members are then sent a Google+ welcome email explaining the action taken by the administrator. Notes
Today’s launch applies to Premier, Gov and higher-education EDU domains only (K-12 EDU domains are excluded).
People using Picasa or with a public chat photo are not eligible to be upgraded by an admin, and must create their own profile.
