A new Google+ email feature announced on the Gmail blog on Thursday let Gmail users know they could now find emails of friends who never gave them their emails, and vice versa, but users can easily opt out of the service.
The new feature is explained on the blog "as an extension of some earlier improvements that keep Gmail contacts automatically up to date using Google+," and will "suggest your Google+ connections as recipients when you are composing a new email."
If this sounds too intrusive for some Google+ and Gmail users, there is a simple opt out option allowing the user to "control whether people can reach you this way with a new setting in Gmail," according to the blog.
The new changes also affect Gmail user's inbox categories, but only if they are enabled.
According to the blog "when someone in your circles emails you, the email will appear in the Primary category. But if you don't have them in your circles, it will be filtered into the Social category (if enabled) and they'll only be able start another conversation with you if you respond or add them to your circles."
For users who choose to opt in, the feature does indeed facilitate communicating with those who are not in their immediate group of friends or acquaintances but are connected to them through Goolge+.
For others, like Jeff Roberts who is a reporter for the tech blog GigaOM, the facilitated communication is more like a "stalking tool," according to CNN.
Mashable's Chris Taylor thinks its too much of a push to get users into Google+ and that's where company seems to go wrong, CNN reported.
"What (CEO Larry) Page and Google seem maddeningly unaware of is that nobody can ever be forced into having a party," Taylor wrote on Mashable. "That in fact, the forcing is what makes a party impossible."
Google, clearly anticipating the privacy concerns, notes that users may limit the feature, or opt out of it entirely.
The new features will be accessible in the next couple of days as Google+ and Gmail users receive messages with information about the feature, CNN reported.
