I don't doubt that 60% of people use it daily. I personally click on that +Mladen button a couple of times a day at least. But I'm not so sure that they are using it in the same way as Facebook or Twitter.. that is to say for personal communication with their friends.
None of my friends are on Google+. But there are tons of really smart people that I don't know personally (although I wish I did), who post lots of great content for me to read, and consider and discuss. With this personal experience in mind, I believe the 60% are using it as a content discovery platform, not so much as a social network.. sort of like another Reddit/Twitter
That sounds about right to me. Though obviously there's a spectrum there. One assumes Google's hope is that as the adoption grows, the "None of my friends are on" problem will progressively disappear. When some of your friends are on G+, you'll start posting stuff there. And until then it's a cool way to learn about the restaurants frequented by Lennart Poettering.
Agreed. I think the user base will continue to grow, mainly because more and more websites are adding the G+ button to get any advantage they can in SEO rankings, and that alone will fuel the growth over the next few months.
However I'm not sure how most users will feel about associating their online activity/searches with their social network.
I suspect this is Google's intention, at least for now. It's basically fancy twitter. It doesn't have much in the way of personal communication mechanisms (although huddle was weird and I'm not sure why they thought anybody would use it).
I'd be interested to see what they define as "daily engagement," for it's a fairly ambiguous term. Clicking on a personalized result in Google search is far different than actively going to the G+ home page and engaging in a conversation. Likewise, starting a hangout is far different than merely +1-ing a foreign page on the internet.
Although all of these actions interact with G+, only few are true metrics of social network success. The key is to drive _social_ interaction, to be the #1 resource of where you friends and family interact. I think G+ still has a wall to climb in that sense.
Similar questions should be raised regarding all other companies boasting their engagement rates. Hit a site with Facebook widhets and comments? Do they consider that engagement? shrug
I'm almost surprised the number is so low, given how difficult it is to log into a Google Account and even run a web search without accidentally stumbling onto one of the prolific set of lead-ins it has now.
I wonder which product is really driving G+ adoption. If Google+ is opted in by default on Android now* that would account for almost all of the growth in G+.
* I think this is the case with ICS, less sure if it's the case for the Gingerbread phones that form the vast majority of Android devices sold.
Google+ will be successful because it attracts meaningful conversations and motivated users. It took the best from Twitter and Facebook and added its own flair, making it the most contagious, fun and informative social network I have ever participated in.
True that, particularly on the meaningful conversation side of things. Like many, I initially approached G+ as a kind of Facebook. I focused on basically friends, coworkers, acquaintances - personal relationships developed through assorted means. That was neat in having a replacement for my Facebook account, but I kept on hearing about noteworthy commentary being posted via links to G+ on hn, reddit, etc so I started exploring with new non-friend circles.
After branching out to my immediate interest areas (tech), a little later I ended up adding Philip Plait (bad astronomy guy), Fraser Cain and other sciencey/astronomy folks. The amazing Hangouts that these folks do a number of times/week makes me feel really lucky to have access to such a resource. Certainly having some degree of access to experts in assorted fields is nothing new thanks to the internets, but G+ has, in my view, made such interactions far more accessible.
I can only imagine that there are other groups doing awesome things with G+ who I have not yet found.
(UPDATE: We've confirmed what some readers suspected: the 60 and 80 percent figures refer to users accessing any Google service—whether it be search, Gmail or something else—while logged in to their Google account, and do not necessarily indicate actual usage of Google+ each day or week. The 90 million figure refers not to active users, but to the total number of people who have created Google+ accounts.)
If Google launched a web-based Notepad clone and pushed it like they push Google+, it'd probably get just as many users. More importantly, the users might actually find the app useful.
I view it as a non-entity and I am a large user of social networks. I spent 30 minutes building circles and gave up when nobody posted. It doesn't add enough to be useful. Its not Friendster yet, but....
I'm really starting to like G+. I added the HN circle so now my stream is full of tech stuff. I may never even add personal friends, just let all the baby talk stay on Facebook.
RTFA:
"Google’s Larry Page has announced that Google+ now has 90 million users globally, doubling the number from three months ago. Page also said that G+ has a 60% ‘daily engagement’ rate. This came as a part of Google’s Q4 and fiscal year 2011 financial reports."
Oh, snap. The reported death(s) of G+ seem to be greatly exaggerated.
I know some folks are saying there's a lot of fake accounts on G+ but I think that's true for the same percentage, if not more across all social networks.
[+] [-] mladenkovacevic|14 years ago|reply
None of my friends are on Google+. But there are tons of really smart people that I don't know personally (although I wish I did), who post lots of great content for me to read, and consider and discuss. With this personal experience in mind, I believe the 60% are using it as a content discovery platform, not so much as a social network.. sort of like another Reddit/Twitter
[+] [-] ajross|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] creativityland|14 years ago|reply
However I'm not sure how most users will feel about associating their online activity/searches with their social network.
[+] [-] MatthewPhillips|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] jvm|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] xxbondsxx|14 years ago|reply
Although all of these actions interact with G+, only few are true metrics of social network success. The key is to drive _social_ interaction, to be the #1 resource of where you friends and family interact. I think G+ still has a wall to climb in that sense.
Let's not forget their average visit length:
http://gigaom2.files.wordpress.com/2012/01/6a00d83451b36c69e...
I have a lot of hope for G+ but this reminds me of the premature "Mission Accomplished" banner.
[+] [-] loceng|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] jdp23|14 years ago|reply
do you happen to have a link for the article that graphic comes from? thanks!
[+] [-] Aloisius|14 years ago|reply
Who knew that leveraging a near monopoly by bundling your product could give you access to a new market?
[+] [-] forgotusername|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Steko|14 years ago|reply
* I think this is the case with ICS, less sure if it's the case for the Gingerbread phones that form the vast majority of Android devices sold.
[+] [-] luckyisgood|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] potater|14 years ago|reply
After branching out to my immediate interest areas (tech), a little later I ended up adding Philip Plait (bad astronomy guy), Fraser Cain and other sciencey/astronomy folks. The amazing Hangouts that these folks do a number of times/week makes me feel really lucky to have access to such a resource. Certainly having some degree of access to experts in assorted fields is nothing new thanks to the internets, but G+ has, in my view, made such interactions far more accessible.
I can only imagine that there are other groups doing awesome things with G+ who I have not yet found.
[+] [-] creativityland|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] joejohnson|14 years ago|reply
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[+] [-] joejohnson|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] unknown|14 years ago|reply
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[+] [-] turing|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] EwanToo|14 years ago|reply
Maybe I'm just getting cynical..
[+] [-] waterlesscloud|14 years ago|reply
Perhaps the people I know are just atypical (non)users, but I sort of doubt it.
[+] [-] wbkang|14 years ago|reply
(UPDATE: We've confirmed what some readers suspected: the 60 and 80 percent figures refer to users accessing any Google service—whether it be search, Gmail or something else—while logged in to their Google account, and do not necessarily indicate actual usage of Google+ each day or week. The 90 million figure refers not to active users, but to the total number of people who have created Google+ accounts.)
[+] [-] badclient|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] mathattack|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Hominem|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] creativityland|14 years ago|reply
My stream on fb is fairly informative and useful.
[+] [-] dotcoma|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] nextparadigms|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] ken|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] gtzi|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] resnamen|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] unknown|14 years ago|reply
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[+] [-] j45|14 years ago|reply
I know some folks are saying there's a lot of fake accounts on G+ but I think that's true for the same percentage, if not more across all social networks.
[+] [-] unknown|14 years ago|reply
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[+] [-] j45|14 years ago|reply