Google+ now has 62 million users
by Steven Mostyn - Dec 28 2011, 12:00
Image: Google.
For most web-based services, a steady stream of traffic across tens of millions of registered users would guarantee smiles all around. However, that’s not quite the case if we’re measuring the success of Google+ against that of Facebook.
Moreover, unofficial Google statistician Paul Allen has this week revealed that Google+ is now quickly gathering momentum and that its user base presently sits at 62 million.
Citing analysis carried out on “actual user announcements” made by Google between July 13 and October 13, Ancestry.com founder Allen also claims around 625,000 people are signing up to the Google+ network every day.
Based on that research, and if momentum remains at current levels, the forecasted user base for Google+ will hit 65.8 million in January, 85.2 million in February, and 100 million by March.
Allen says that considering “the accelerated growth I’m seeing and all the dials and levers Google can still utilize, and the developer ecosystem that will be developed, I predict that 2012 is going to be a breakout year for Google+ and that it will end next year with more than 400 million users.”
Should that prediction come true, Google+ will finally become a more concrete competitor in the social networking scene alongside Facebook—which rules the roost at this juncture thanks to a user base of around 800 million.
Of course, if we’re allowing for an elapsed period of 12 months, it’s more than likely that Facebook will be well beyond a billion users by the close of 2012 and Google+ will still be considered something of a niche alternative by comparison.
By way of explaining the increased gravitational pull of Google+, Allen points to the proliferation of Google Android smartphones and tablet computers, 700,000 of which are apparently being activated each day.
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