Google Plus: New Phenomenon or Passing Trend?

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Date: 12 Sep 2011 |

Joining the social networking fray with Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn, Google’s latest creation, Google+ (or just “Plus”), was expected to climb to 20 million users by the end of July, according to an independent analysis done by Paul Allen, founder of Ancestry.com. However, Plus’s highly anticipated trial launch on June 28 may not have been as attention-grabbing as Google hoped it would be. Plus’s invitation-only sign-up has generated between 10 and 25 million users, but the amount of time users spend on the site is growing at a less than desirable rate.

The average time spent on Plus reached its highest point in July at 5 minutes and 50 seconds, reported by Brian Womack at Bloomberg.com. To entice users into spending more time on the network, Google has been working on adding more features. One of the new services is a game service, launched in August, with Zynga and the creators of Angry Birds, Rovio Entertainment Oy. The average time spent on the network did increase for the week ending August 27 at 5 minutes and 47 seconds, up from the previous week by about 4%.

Even though these numbers look positive, Plus still has a lot of work to do to catch up to Facebook’s impressive total of 750 million users. But because Google hasn’t opened up the service to everyone yet, some people say it’s too early to accurately assess user numbers. The main issue, despite Google’s argument that Plus should be used as a supplement to existing networking sites like Facebook, is this: Are people willing to adapt to an entirely new program, or will Plus become the latest in failed attempts at social competition?