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New stats from a company calling itself GlobalWebIndex claim Google+ is now the second most popular social site in the world, eclipsing Twitter and YouTube with only the Facebook goliath ahead of it.
GlobalWebIndex’s data claims Google+ grew by 27 percent in its figures for December 2012, taking it up to a total global user base of around 343m.
Which is growth we can believe, as Google’s doing a great job of literally forcing people to use, or at least look at, Google+. Gmail now tells you you have “circles” even if you’ve never used G+, the company has made using it compulsory if you want to review and rate games and apps on its Android app store, plus the way it adds weight to search results forces any blogger to whore it out like nobody’s business if they want to stay in the SEO game.
GlobalWebIndex claims its figures represent active web users rather than those who’ve signed up once then not touched it again, so… perhaps Google+ isn’t the empty city we’ve been led to believe. [GlobalWebIndex via Techradar]
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So if it let’s every blogger whore out because of SEO results why is Giz not adapting to it?
One more thing, anybody that thinks G+ is a ghost town is gravely mistaken and most likely have stopped in time and should consider working on something other then technology specially news involving it.
i never knew Google has so many employees..
Wow, seriously impressive Google. The sooner the pestilent mess that is Facebook is reigned in and has equal competition, the better!
so even when there’s hard figures showing G+ to be a competent, viable social platform, it’s still “empty”? when is Gizmodo’s collective ignorance of a service that’s actually pretty awesome gonna stop?
also, the likely reason for the increase is that all YouTube users have been forced to connect with a G+ profile. this has probably lead to a fair few people scoping out the site.
My Youtube account and G+ is not connected. It’s optional.
*are
Having playlists on youtube is indeed ONLY possible now if you are subscribed to G+, very frustrating.
I tried to unsubscribe, but this deleted all my playlists…
this isn’t the sort of practice I expect from The Big G. would’ve been better to offer new social features to G+ users and entice people that way, rather than restricting functions.
I’d argue that they already have the better feature set, the difficulty is getting people to try when they’re so entrenched in FB – if they can use YouTube as a crowbar and it works, then brilliant.
G+ is in the sweet spot at the moment where it’s got a lot of decent users but its not quite hit the “inundated with morons” level.
I like to think of it as the G+ spot,
Well described.
brill lol, i quite like having facebook and G+
facebook is the usual social ramblings friends family etc..
but G+ allows me to follow my interests better and chat to like minded peeps without all the attention whore or vague posts
Absolutely
Google+ is great and with potentially the best set of users. I like to use it to be up-to-date and commenting.
On another completely unrelated news, familybook and faithbook .coms have been created.
I have a place in my life for G+ & FB, i use both regularly, G+ is far from a Ghost town now, it was to begin with, but there is so much more you can do with it now, i think the writers should have another look, come join the community and then decide whether it’s a ghost town or not for themselves.
Yeeah, we were wondering what took you so long to come up with a way to spin this report…
I am surprised it was not a Biddle written article. We heard this news a few days ago, that’s probably how long it took them to get this angle.
Dear GizUK,
I read your insightful, well-written and thoughtful submission regarding Google Plus now being the second most popular social network with great interest.
I personally use G+ on a daily basis, and find it to be an informative and intuitive experience offering up a wealth of interesting articles along with the regular posts from my carefully-chosen friends. My friends are grouped into Circles as per Google’s suggestions, which I find an excellent way to separate posts in my “feed”, and I enjoy my visits to the site.
In comparison, I am also a member of Facebook. In my experience, it is a buggy, appallingly laid out piece of absolute shit. I am unfortunately finding it difficult to separate myself from this abomination, but sadly websites such as yours do seem to have a tendency to deny G+ its due, and for some reason choose to damn it at every opportunity, decrying it as a “ghost town” and other such choice epithets.
This results in my friends on Facebook being unwilling to change their chosen social networking site, and ensures that I have to endure the living hell that is Facebook if I wish to keep up to date with my friends’ pursuits (interspersed regularly with adverts for diet pills, nappies and soft drinks).
I hereby request that you, GizUK, stop posting such absolute drivel about such an excellent website, and consider the possibility that you may, in fact, be talking out of your collective arses when you slate G+ as not being worth anyone’s while.
It is not a “ghost town”. It is not sub-par when compared with other social networking sites. It is a very well thought out, intelligent platform through which I can keep up to date with the world around me without interruptions from acquaintances who would like me to provide them with a fictitious wrench with which to repair their shed in Farmville.
Yours,
Anthropolyte
Well said
Bravo
FB for family and friends and old school mates you never see. Posts about other people children and what they have had for dinner or are doing at the weekend. But for like minded people there is g+. It started slow but I now have over 1000 people in various circles organized by subject/ interest. I get far more interaction and far more information from g+ than I do anywhere else on the web. Communities, hangouts and much more. Plus NO ADVERTS!!
It’s time you stopped bashing g+
G+ is great. Barely use Twitter these days, and Facebook is just for prying and spying – more or less exactly what it was originally invented for.