With almost 8 years advantage under their belt, Facebook is the leading social networking website, with an estimated half of all Americans having a profile in place. With around three quarters of the US market, Google is the most widely visited search engine by far, not just in North America but Europe as well. So how is Google+ fairing against the giant portal we all love to visit?
According to stats in August there were over 25 million users, most of whom are based in the US and India. There are currently reported to be 40 million who now have an account, indicating not just a stall in update but a positive slump. At this stage of launch Google would have expected a much better reach, and as they know from the path which Facebook took, it’s all about going viral.
With such a large portion of website marketing and SEO consultants spending everyday trying to please Google, it’s easy to imagine that half those using a Google+ profile are involved in the industry in some capacity. Within 3 months of creating my profile (I say my because as yet the Google+ business profiles are not launched) I have had 5 genuine friend requests and about 90 from Indians with a name relating to SEO.
In essence Google+ will be experiencing the same start-up issues that Facebook suffered, yet with a massive amount of GMail accounts they can raid to get started. But before they increase awareness on the street as well as online, they’ll struggle to touch the 400 million using Mark Zuckerberg’s creation. Incidentally, there’s a nice battle still going on between Zuckerberg of Facebook and Page of Google.
| User | Followers | |
| #1 | Mark Zuckerberg | 597,753 |
| #2 | Larry Page | 583,697 |
