Those of you waiting impatiently for Google+ to go public should be happy to know that all (old) Google profiles must be made public by July 31st. Profile pages that are not made public will simply be deleted at the end of the month. “Public” doesn’t mean you have to share every little detail about yourself with the world, but name and gender are required.

What does this have to do with Plus? Google’s push for integration across services includes the converting of old Google profiles into Google+ profiles, which are public. The July 31st deadline doesn’t necessarily mean that the Plus network will open up to everyone right away, but it does indicate that the search giant is taking big steps to reach the general public and integrate more services as quickly as possible.

Considering that privacy and control over information are at the top of the list of benefits for many people who are ditching other social networks in favor of Google+ (at least that seems to be the case in my Stream), perhaps this “public only” profile issue will rub a few people the wrong way. Do you think switching to public profiles is a good or bad thing? Do you not care about the issue at all? Let us know in the comments.

Via L.A. Times