Google+ Isn’t Dead – Closing in on MySpace & LinkedIn

Graph from Hitwise

As sure as night follows day, it’s almost certain that the bloggerati will claim that the new big thing is “dead” within a few hours of it being released.

The same goes for Google+. The challenger to Facebook‘s crown has only been out of open beta for a few weeks, and already the doom-mongers are hailing the project as a complete and total failure. But unfortunately for the naysayers, the facts tell a slightly different story…

According to Experian Hitwise, Google Plus’ social media market share increased last week by a staggering 1,269%. In case you think that’s a typo, here’s that figure written out: One thousand, two hundred and sixty nine percent.

That puts Plus comfortably inside the top ten social networking sites, and means that it’s closing in fast on (the admittedly declining) MySpace and LinkedIn.

The Top Ten Social Sites

1. Facebook – 64.85% market share (1,758,098,904 visits in a week!)
2. YouTube – 19.55%
3. Twitter – 1.22%
4. Yahoo! Answers – 1.03%
5. Tagged – 0.73%
6. LinkedIn – 0.66%
7. MySpace – 0.60%
8. Google+ – 0.55% (14,977,469 visits in a week, up from 54th most visited)
9. myYearbook – 0.39%
10. iVillage – 0.36%

While only a fool would claim that Facebook are there for the taking, it’s easy to see Google+ equalling the market share of well established sites such as Twitter before the end of the year – providing the site with a very strong platform to build upon in 2012.

But it’s not just early adopters and teens that are embracing Plus – new users of all age groups, nationalities and walks of life are signing up in droves – as evidence by data Google has released on the sorts of circles people are being placed into.  Circles such as “Bohemian Groove” and “Funny Guys” are overtaking “SEO Experts” and “Social Bloggers” as the site’s demographic shifts towards more casual users.

But despite this growth, there’s still no sign whatsoever of Google+ for Businesses. And until that feature is announced, Google+ isn’t going to be able to even consider challenging Facebook as a platform for getting the message out to customers.

Be Sociable, Share!

•