After many checked out Google+ when it first launched and dismissed it straight away as many of their friends and colleagues weren’t there, spurning the infamous “Ghost town” meme as a result. It seems since then, in the background of the media, under the shadow of “nobody cares to look” the social media network has been growing leaps and bonds, they are in second place!!! They have more active users than Twitter!!
According to GlobalWebIndex.net, Google+, with 343 million active users, has become:
The second largest social network on the planet!
Causing the senior VP of engineering at Vic Gundotra, having the right to afford a little smirk when he says, "That is a lot of ghosts".
Those chaps at that tiny little internet shop called Google, might actually be quite jacked up with this internet thing and connecting the information about people... who knew.
Now before the mob sharpens the pitchforks, credit needs payed where it is due. Facebook is still numero uno, and by a colossal margin with almost 700 million active users (by the way GWI defines ‘active users’ as those who used or contributed to a site in the past month). Keep in mind though Facebook launched by Mark Zuckerberg and clan in February of 2004 a good 7 years of head start before Google+ launched in June of 2011. Though to be fair Facebook started in a dorm room by some college kids vs the behemoth of the internet and all it’s crew.
Even with all the star exposure from numerous celebrities pumping out 140 character rants, remarks and touching thoughts on the Twitter network, ranging from our radio hosts such as Gareth Cliff (@GarethCliff) with his 401,915 army of followers all the way to that girl with a short hair Justin Bieber (@justinbieber) with 33,671,260 girls following his/her every public thought. Even with all that, Twitter is still behind with only 288 million active users.
Back to the survey from GWI with the more technical stuff I’d rather quote directly:
“GOOGLE+: FASTEST GROWING ON-PLATFORM USAGE
Contribution to Google+ is exploding. “Posting comment about my daily activities” grew 100% compared to 8% on Twitter and a 2% decline on Facebook! This is generally mirrored across the board. For example, “uploading and sharing photos” increased 75% on Google+, 40% on Twitter, but saw a 2% decline for Facebook.”
I think at the very least, you owe it to yourself to check back at that Google+ network and see what all the fuss is about before you’re standing around the braai and everyone is discussing that latest debate at the ‘South Africa is Awesome’ community at Google+ (yes they have communities too, like groups but vastly better ) and all you’ll be doing is checking that your vors doesn't need to be turned again, and trying to comment on the hot weather, cause you are up-to-date with that at least.
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