In one of the most unpopular moves by Google in recent memory, Youtube users have been forced to either sign up for, or start using their existing Google Plus profiles in order to post comments.
This move sparked a massive movement, not only by the YouTube viewer community but also by popular Youtube personalities as well, who began boycotting the commenting platform altogether in order to make their own form of protest.
The outrage was of a standard that hadn’t been seen since the likes of Facebook was lambasted for their questionable privacy behaviours that shifted many account holders into a public profile from their previous settings that may been been heavily private.
Many saw Google’s move as a strategy to leverage the popularity of one platform to gain traction in a much more weak and much less popular social platform.
Being a Google Plus user, more for news feeds and other interests than for “friend” networks, and having my own “Ritchie’s Room” account, I wasn’t as instantly disgusted by the move, but I could definitely see and appreciate the issues that were being brought up all over the world by viewers and Youtube creators alike.
I had recently watched Taken, an awesome quotable movie with Liam Neeson as the main protagonist whose daughter has been kidnapped. In one scene which has gained mythic status, Liam Neeson talks to the kidnapper over the phone.
I thought it would be rather funny to use this scene to describe how the Youtube controversy might be applied to Liam Neeson’s character in Taken. Enjoy!