According to an analysis, Google+ had 25 million visitors since July 24, of which
3.6 million are Indian users
Google+ is a latecomer to social networking but its new site,
Google+, is growing much more rapidly than Facebook, Myspace and Twitter did in
their early days, technology experts said.
While Google+ may be the fastest-growing social network ever, it remains to be seen,
however, whether it can pose a serious threat to the social networking titan Facebook,
which has more than 750 million members.
Andrew Lipsman, vice president for industry analysis at tracking firm comScore,
said Google+, which was launched by the Internet search and advertising giant on
June 28, had 25 million unique visitors as of July 24.
During a panel discussion on Google+ hosted by Wedbush Securities, Lipsman said
it took other social networks much longer to reach 25 million users: 22 months for
Myspace, 33 months for Twitter and 37 months for Facebook.
"Obviously, this is a very strong growth trajectory," Lipsman said. He cautioned,
however, that Google "has a really large user base it can build off of" with its
one billion users worldwide. And it still has a "really long way to go to be competitive
with Facebook," Lipsman said.
"Google+ is the fastest by a long shot but it's important to realise that fastest
may not always be best," he said. "Sometimes, that slow build can lead to a strong
network effect that pays long-term dividends."
Most Google+ users - 6.4 million are in the United States, followed by India with
3.6 million, Canada with 1.1 million, Britain with 1.1 million and Germany with
over 920,000, according to comScore.
Lipsman said many Google+ users appear to also be users of Gmail and display a "very
strong early adopter profile." He said the ratio of men to women is about two to
one and that 60 per cent of Google+ users are between the ages of 18 and 34.
Steve Rubel, executive vice president for global strategy and insights a public
relations firm Edelman, said Facebook is not "vulnerable immediately" to Google.
"I don't see (Google+) taking significant share from Facebook in the next 18 months.
Google was compelled to try its hand at social networking because Facebook is restricting
the access of its search engine to Facebook content, "Rubel said.
One of the criticisms of Facebook is that updates are shared with all
of one's friends unless a user has gone through a relatively complicated process
to create separate Facebook Groups.
Courtesy: DNA India
