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vangogh
01-06-2012, 01:44 AM
I came across this article from The Blog Herald a couple of days ago with a graph showing the growth of Google+ since it launched in mid June. I'll attach an image below.

The article, Google+ Witnesses Huge Membership Growth, Could Reach 400 Million In 2012 (http://www.blogherald.com/2012/01/03/google-witnesses-huge-membership-growth-could-reach-400-million-in-2012/), mentions how Google+ doubled it's traffic in December, which is pretty impressive. I wouldn't take the 400 million number too seriously. It's assuming that Google+ will continue to pick up the same 25 million or so new users every month in 2012.

The growth data comes from Hitwise, which puts Google+ membership at 50 million. Paul Allen of Ancestry.com puts the number at 62 million, though I don't know where his data comes from. What's interesting is that Google+ has gained 50 (or maybe 60) million members in just over 6 months. By comparison it took Facebook 4 years to reach 60 million. Of course, the world is much more accustomed to social networks now than they were when Facebook was first starting, so it's not really an apples to apples comparison.

If you look at the graph the first 2 months are when Google+ was still invite only. After that you can see it grew very quickly, leveled off for a month and then started growing again. It's still too early to know where the network will be this time next year or say 5 years down the line, but if growth in 2012 is similar to growth in 2011 we're talking 150 million or so users this time next year. My guess is it'll grow faster. I doubt we'll see 400 million at the end of the year, but I wouldn't be surprised by 200 - 250 million.

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greenoak
01-06-2012, 08:30 AM
it sounds good....but im still not hearing any of my connections using it...50 million is a huge number!!!
.. im in it but i dont use it.... anyone here use it today? what for?
for my hour of social in the morning, i have time for facebook, and pinterest and reading the news and thats about it,,,,, i would need a good reason and some relevant people to try and fit google + in....

KristineS
01-06-2012, 04:26 PM
I'm on Google +, but so far it hasn't been too interesting. I have to admit I haven't put a lot of time into it either, so that may be part of the problem.

vangogh
01-06-2012, 08:08 PM
im still not hearing any of my connections using it

I hear you and naturally until more of the people you know are there it's not going to be super useful for you. I'm guessing your connections weren't on Facebook either when it had 50 million members. What seems to happen with these large general networks is first the early adopters (usually internet marketers and the very techie) show up. The question is whether the network will grow past those early adopters. Most networks never get there.

Google+ hasn't gotten there yet, but the signs are showing it will in time. The growth so far has been impressive. Facebook's success certainly helps. When Facebook was first growing most people weren't aware of social networks so it naturally took them longer to grow. Still I don't know if they would have grown as fast as Google+ seems be.

For Google+ to get where it wants to be it needs mass adoption. The masses are in the same situation you're in, though. The people they know aren't there now so there's no compelling reason to be there.

I have noticed a couple of things in addition to the numbers above pointing to the masses eventually signing up.

1. Celebrities are starting to show up. I think Britney Spears currently has the most friends. She might have been the first person to a million. Twitter took off a few months after the celebrities showed up.

2. I'm starting to see Google+ profiles mentioned on tv shows. The other night I was watching Anderson Cooper on CNN and in addition to their Facebook and Twitter pages they pointed to Google+ If you remember a few years ago tv shows weren't pushing their social profiles at all. Now plenty are pointing viewers to Facebook and Twitter profiles. Once you start seeing Google+ profiles on tv you'll know it's arrived.


anyone here use it today? what for?

Same thing you use Facebook for. Obviously you need to know people on Google+ to do that, but the two really are very similar. One way Google is trying to distinguish Google+ is by connecting it to other Google products. Google+ is being integrated into everything Google. Not very useful if you don't use other Google products, but most people use at least one or two.

The question is still whether or not they grow past the early adopters, but all sigs are pointing to them doing that.

1ManSCorp
01-11-2012, 10:51 AM
It's growing at an incredible rate. But still has nothing on Facebook. I never see Google+ advertised on TV as much as I see " Join us on Facebook "! Google+ And Search+ is just not up to par.

vangogh
01-11-2012, 11:51 AM
Facebook does have a few years head start though, so I don't think it's fair to compare the number of people using each yet. You have to give Google a little time to see what they can grow into. Facebook has bridged the gap from the early adopters to the masses. Google+ hasn't had the time to do that yet. Will they? We don't know. The early signs seem to indicate they will get there.

I haven't see a lot of Google+ on tv. So far it's just been the one show. However after 6 or so month no one was advertising Facebook either. At similar points in the history of each Google+ is actually far ahead of Facebook. However that's the fairest comparison either since Google+ is starting at a time when people are much more aware of social networking, mainly thanks to Facebook.

At the moment any comparison between the 2 is going to be biased one way or the other. Google+ clearly wants to be something similar to Facebook. The question isn't whether or not they are at the moment, but whether or not they can get there or at least be in the same ballpark. For that to happen Google+ needs to grow past the early adopters to reach the masses. So far the signs are showing that they will.

jamesray50
01-11-2012, 02:09 PM
I'm on it, but don't use it. But, I also don't have gmail set up in my outlook so when there is a notification I don't get notified of something. For example, there is someone in one of my circle that has a meeting every week and notifies us by email. But, I don't feel like I am missing out, yet.

vangogh
01-11-2012, 03:02 PM
I don't feel like I am missing out, yet.

My point is it's all about that "yet"

I don't think anyone would suggest that Google+ is currently as large or as useful to most people as Facebook is now. The thing is Facebook didn't spring up out of nowhere with 800 million or so users. It took several years for them to get there. Google+ is attempting to be something similar, but it's not realistic to think they would open their doors and have hundreds of millions of users overnight. Google+ has only been in existence for about 6 or 7 months.

Google+ has grown a lot faster than Facebook did in it's first few months. If we were to compare both networks in the same periods of their existence Google+ is blowing away Facebook. That's not a fair comparison though since Google+ has the benefit of people already familiar with and using social networks. It's a benefit Facebook didn't have.

I understand most people here aren't using Google+ and that their friends and customers aren't using it at the moment. That's not really the point though. The question is whether or not people will be using Google+ a few years from now. So far the signs indicate that they likely will be. We can't know for certain because there are several hurdles Google+ would need to cross before that happens and the reality is we won't be able to tell if they cross those hurdles until after they've crossed them.

All we can look at is the hurdles they crossed so far and to look at other networks like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc. and see what happened with those networks when they crossed the same hurdles. When you do that the signs point to Google+ succeeding. And by succeeding I don't necessarily mean everyone is going to leave Facebook and jump to Google+ By succeeding I mean it looks like Google+ is positioning itself to be in the same conversation.