New Google+ estimated to be growing a million users a day

Following on from our May 2011 newsletter where we reported on Google’s move into social networking with the “+1″ button, they have now launched a full social networking service called Google+. At the moment this remains in a beta version and is gradually being rolled out, but initial estimates are indicating a rapid take-up of the service.

It appears that Google+ is not shaping up to be a flop, like “Buzz” and “Wave” – the company’s previous forays into social/shared content. At least one independent study indicates that Google+ is growing at rates that rival those seen by Facebook. The author of this study, Paul Allen, the founder of Ancestry.com, suggests that by mid-July, there could be as many as 20 million users signed up to Google+.

Allen based his work by counting surnames on Google+ and then comparing that count to Census Bureau data. If his figures are correct, then more than one million new people per day have signed up to Google+ since its launch on June 28th. According to The New York Times, in 2009 Facebook was gaining nearly a million new users a day. However, Google has not announced officially how many users are on Google+ at the moment.

Allen’s data does involve some assumptions, for example, that there were 2.12 non-US users for every American on Google+, so cannot be deemed as entirely accurate (and neither does he claim it to be). But he believes that his figures are in the approximate vicinity and this is sufficient to portray such amazing growth.

The reason for this could be due to the recent publicity for Google+ in the technical press which has prompted many sign-ups. Whether or not these users are actually active or will continue to use the new service is a key question and one that will determine whether Google+ will really challenge Facebook or head the same way as Buzz and Wave.

If you would like to know more about Google+, or how social media marketing can enhance the success of your business, contact us now for details.

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