Is There Life on Google+ ?

by Maura Mitchell

There’s a great debate raging about Google+.  Some say it’s all but dead.  Others see it as a powerful, growing social network.

What are the facts?  Read on for both sides of the story, plus our recommendation of what you should do on the social network.

One Perspective:  Google+ Is Thriving

There are lots of positive Google+ metrics.

• It has more users than any other social network except Facebook.  It’s significantly ahead of Twitter, Linkedin, and Pinterest.

• Google+ user satisfaction is well above all other social networks’.  Consumers rate it 78 out of 100 in the most recent American Customer Satisfaction Index, while giving Facebook 61, Twitter 64, and Linkedin 63.

• More and more people are visiting Google+.  The number of unique visitors increased more than 66% between November, 2011 and June, 2012.  Visits increased another 59% in the two weeks at the end of July.

• A large segment of Google+ members visit daily.  According to Google, 75 million people use the social network every day and twice that number uses it every month.

• Big brands are taking Google+ seriously.  Of the top 100 brands, 75% have a presence on Google+.

• Google+’s first name dramatically increases its impact.  Month by month, Google+ is becoming more intertwined with Google search, Gmail, and Google Maps, enhancing its power and usefulness.

Another Perspective:  Google+ Is Flailing Towards Irrelevancy

Other facts paint a very different picture.

• Google+ drives very little social sharing.  The Internet is buzzing with the results of an Umpf study showing that Google+ produces only 6 shares per hundred stories vs. 15 for LinkedIn, 42 for Facebook, and 197 for Twitter (Unfortunately, the study only reviewed 100 stories, making it not terribly reliable or projectable but still very sharable).

• Users spend little time on Google+.  The average user spends 12 minutes a day on Google+, significantly less than on Facebook.
• People are on Google+ by default.  Because every new Gmail account comes with a Google+ account, some more recent Google+ users did not make any real effort to join the network.

• Brands have far fewer followers on Google+.  Only two top brands have more than a million followers on Google+:  H & M and Toyota.  The top 10 brands have a total of 9.2 million followers.  Those numbers are dramatically below Facebook fan counts.

Our Perspective:  You Must Be on Google+

Why? If you believe that Google+ is thriving, it’s obvious.  If you believe Google+ is all but irrelevant, you still need to be there to hedge your bets.  Google has committed to building a powerful social network.  They have shown tremendous willingness to try, revise, and try again.  They are increasingly intertwining Google+ with search, creating a social search super power with huge leverage.  And finally, it’s just not smart to bet against Google.

Do you agree?

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