A shallow victory for those that pressed the social network for a more relaxed name policy

Jan 24, 2012 10:31 GMT  ·  By

Google has finally relented on its 'real names' policy on Google+. It is now possible to add a nickname or an alternate name to your Google+ profile, though your 'real name' will still be displayed. In some cases, it will be possible to use pseudonyms instead of your 'real name,' but most people won't have that option.

Google saw quite a backlash over its requirement for users to provide their real names in Google+ profiles. Technically, Google has called it a "common name" policy, i.e. the name you're using 'commonly.' While that's not stricly the same as a 'real name' policy, for most people, it means the same thing.

It was adamant that real names create a healthy, civilized community, which is what Google wanted, while pseudonyms would create a barbaric, free-for-all community (see Twitter) which is what Google definitely didn't want.

Nymwars

But there was a lot of pressure on Google to relax its real name policy. This, despite the fact that Facebook has the same requirements and has had from the start.

That pressure finally paid off when Google announced, last fall, that it would be allowing people to use alternate names on Google+. And today, that promise became a reality, albeit one that's being rolled out over the next couple of days.

Google's Bradley Horowitz has announced that you will be able to use other names on Google+. At first glance, it looks like a victory for those that petitioned Google to allow the use of pseudonyms on the social network.

Nicknames and alternate scripts for names are OK

Except it's not, what Google unveiled today are a couple of very limited features. For one, people will be able to use nicknames, alternate names or names written in non-Roman characters.

This feature comes in great for people who have a nickname through which they're known to friends, or in online communities and so on. It's also great for the tens of millions of people that use Google+ but are not Americans or Europeans and don't use Roman characters in their language. Google+ has millions of users in India alone.

But, since your 'real name' is also displayed along with the nickname, this doesn't do anything for those that desired some anonymity and wanted to use an alternate name exclusively, for a variety of valid reasons.

Pseudonyms only for the famous, at Google's discretion

This is not what people were upset about and it's not what they asked. Granted, Google is also enabling some people to use pseudonyms as their 'real name.' But there are some severe limitations and requirements for this.

People that only want to use a pseudonym have to appeal to a Google 'court.' They have to make their case and have to back up their claims over a pseudonym with "references to an established identity offline in print media, news articles" or official documents, i.e. a driver's license under the pseudonym, or "proof of an established identity online with a meaningful following."

Providing all of this does not guarantee acceptance. Google gets to decide what is a "meaningful following" and it could mean anything. The worst part is that you already have to have an established pseudonym, you can't simply create a new one for Google+.

It's a rather shallow victory for those that fought to have Google+ accept pseudonyms. But it may be that the fight was actually for nothing, even if you can't use a pseudonym, you can use any 'real name' you want, it doesn't have to be your 'real' real name. Google doesn't really care one way or the other.