What's in a name? Apparently a lot, when creating a Google+ profile. Google+ took a controversial stand at its inception and required all users to use their real-world name to avoid pseudonyms and impersonations. When users originally signed up with an identity other than their real name, Google suspended many of those accounts.
While most people go by the name that appears on their driver's license or passport and wouldn't think twice about using their real name on a social network - some people have created images and lucrative brands around an established pseudonym. Take Madonna or Lady Gaga, for instance.
Google+ has heard the cries of identity anguish and announced it will change its policy.
"Over the next week, we'll be adding support for alternate names - be they nicknames, maiden names, or names in another script - alongside your common name," Bradley Horowitz, a co-leader at Google+, wrote in a Google+ post.
"This name will show up on your Google+ profile and in the hovercards which appear over your name. In the next few weeks, we'll be displaying it more broadly as part of your name on other areas of Google+ as well. So if you're Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, Jane Doe (Smith) you can now communicate your identity the way you want to."
Google+ will, however, have the last say and reserves the right to deny the use of a pseudonym that they feel doesn't represent an individual, like businesses and abstract ideas.
Users can appeal to Google+ if the name they intend to use is flagged by providing information to confirm an established identity. Back-up documentation could include references to an established identity offline in print media, scanned official documentation or proof of a meaningful online following.
Borowitz added: "Today is a small step towards improving the ways in which you can communicate your identity of Google+. We will be listening to feed from the community and will continue to refine all aspects of how we handle names and identity over the coming weeks, months and beyond."
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Source: http://www.bigmouthmedia.com/live/articles/google-averts-identity-crisis.asp/8851/
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