My Google Plus Profile Got Suspended For Name Violation. What Now?

Google Plus has endured a lot of criticism of late for their aggressive push to get Beta users to provide their full names. For example, anyone with names that contain unusual characters will have their Google Plus profile suspended with immediate effect. Users must follow the guidelines below in order to avoid any profile suspensions:

* Use your full first and last name in a single language.
* Put nicknames or pseudonyms in the Other Names field.
* Avoid unusual characters in your name.
* Don’t use the name of another individual.
* Your profile and name must represent one individual.
source: Your Name and Google+ Profiles

For those who want their Google+ Profiles reinstated, you will have to submit an appeal through this page. This can take from a few days to as long as a few weeks, depending on the nature of your suspension. Some Google Plus users have even been asked to submit their government IDs as a proof of identity. Users have raised various concerns in regards to this approach.

Personal branding
Some individuals are more commonly associated with names, other than their real names. Unfortunately, many of those who use their personal brands have been suspended for violating the policy. Yes, Google has given us an option of putting these pseudonyms on another field. However, the nicknames field is not as visible as your official Google+ name. Should there be some leeway for these people? Mainstream artists like Lady Gaga seemed to have gotten away with it. Unfortunately, the same can not be said for people like DR4WARD (read more).

Edit: It has just come to my attention that people CAN find your profile with your pseudonym, if you add it your other names field. You just have to give them permission. If you want your pseudonym to appear in public results then you will have to set the ‘other names’ field permission to ‘Anyone on the web’ (source).

No More Private Profiles?
Another concern that has been raised is the deletion of private profiles. Personally, I don’t see any wrongdoings as like Facebook, you can still keep your optional information (e.g. hobbies, employment) private. If you are concerned about people searching your name on Google then you also have the option to hide your profile from search engine results. The only thing that will always remain public is your name and gender. In all honesty, I think the word “privacy” is just an illusion in the world of social media.

This is just a brief summary of my opinions on the Google Plus Project. Feel free to leave a comment. I’d love to hear your inputs.