Google recently revealed its social network now boasts 40 million users; pretty impressive for a platform that’s only been open to the public for around three weeks. Or is it?
Putting Facebook’s mammoth 800 million users to one side, the figure most commonly quoted with Twitter is 100 million. So on the face of it Google seems to be on its way to toppling Twitter.
But you can’t compare the stats being bandied around. Twitter’s refers to active users (people that have logged in during the last month), whereas Google’s figure relates to sign-ups. And there is a world of difference.
It’s like comparing page impressions and unique visitors; the two figures have little to do with one another and their comparison offers very little in the way of meaningful analysis.
Until Google releases statistics that offer an idea of how many people are actually using the service, as opposed to the number that have once clicked ‘join’ we’ll have no idea how well (or how badly) Google Plus is actually doing.
My guess is that it might be a while before we see these statistics.
A purely anecdotal analysis of Google Plus suggests that, unless you’re part of the tech industry, it’s currently something of a ghost town. And, as important as those early adopters are, Google is not going to become a major player in the social networking space until it can convince people en mass to ditch Facebook and switch to Plus.
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In other news, it has been announced that there are now 190 million Android devices in use, contributing to earnings of $2.5 billion from mobile. So it’s not all bad news for Larry Page and the rest of the Google board.
But when you’re fighting such expensive wars on so many fronts you’re hoping for good news as frequently as possible.
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What are your experiences of Google Plus? Do you think it’s ever likely to become a compelling enough proposition for significant uptake? And is it ever likely to be a go to destination for B2B marketers?
