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New Gmail users will no longer have to sign up to Google's flagging social network Google+, after 2 and half years of mandatory social account creation. Users previously had to sign up to Google+ when signing up for Gmail, Google Docs and variety of other Google products.
Whilst the company still encourages users to sign up for Google+ it now has a "No thanks" button when offering the service during the sign up procedure for its products.
Google Gmail No Longer Requires Google+ and Has "No Thanks" Button [itproportal.com]