Google+ Gains Nearly 10 Million Users In First 2 Days Of Being Open To The Public

A Google+ post by Paul Allen, founder of ancestry.com and a self-proclaimed “unofficial Google+ statistician, shows significant growth of Google’s social network since opening to the public.   These growth rates were only first seen during the first few weeks of field testing when the user numbers were very low.  In terms of the current growth spurt Allen states:

“it is clear that Google+ is absolutely exploding — 30% growth in just 2 days and with a base of nearly 30 million members already.”

His previous Google+ users estimate was 28.7 Million users on September 9th a number that has increased to 43.3 million  current users.  He also stated that “most of the growth coming in the last 2 days.”

So what does this mean? Google+ may be cementing themselves as a credible social network, but the mass exodus from Facebook just isn’t happening. Facebook is still the powerhouse network with 800 million+ users and all of the layout complaints aren’t adding up to astounding departure numbers … yet.

Other notable Google+ timeline stats are:

• Over 1 million mark (1.7 million) – 7/4
• 4.5 million user mark – 7/10/11
• 10 million user mark – 7/12/11

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Google+ Reaches 25 Million Users

It wasn’t long ago that we reported that Google’s new social network Google+ had reached 10 million users, then we heard they were close to 20 million users, and now it looks like Google+ has 25 million users.

Google+ is growing at an incredible rate, and we suspect it will grow even faster when it is released to everyone, in contrast it took Facebook nearly 3 years to reach 25 million users and Twitter 30 months to reach 25 million users.

Although both these really aren’t a fair comparison as both social networks were launched from scratch, where as Google had hundreds of millions of users of its existing services to launch Google+ too.

The figure is still pretty impressive, and we wonder how long it will take Google to reach 100 million users, it should hit this before the end of the year if it continues to grow at the same rate.

Source The Next Web

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HOW TO: Use Google+ For Your Job Search

Google+ hit 20 million unique visitors this week, and the company launched a mobile app. The stats are impressive, but the new social network has room to grow in catching up with its massive competitors Twitter and Facebook.

Early adopters of Google+ are captivated by the network’s growth, as many tech elites — including Mark Zuckerberg, Robert Scoble and Kevin Rose — have amassed large followings in just weeks.

SEE ALSO: GOOGLE+: THE COMPLETE GUIDE | VIDEOS | REVIEW

Google+ hasn’t hit a mainstream audience yet, but it does seem to be romancing the tech geeks with strong force. Yes, I’m talking about you, fellow Mashable readers. Early adopters, social influencers, tech innovators, digital natives — call yourselves what you will. The bottom line is, you understand the value of digital tools and how they can connect you to people and ideas all over the world.

With so many influential techies flocking to Google+, it’s a great place to showcase expertise and learn from others. Here are some tips for using Google+ for your job search.

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More Signs of Google Plus Games Coming Soon: How Will G+ Gaming Differ From Facebook?

ince the release of Google's new social network, there's been a lot of speculation about when and if Google Plus would get a gaming component. Early inquiry into the site's code certainly hinted at the possibility, and now more signs have been uncovered.

Slashgear reports that the Games Stream has been confirmed, pointing to wording on the Google Plus Help pages - now removed - that referenced games and potentially a separate stream for finding game-related updates.

That news may come as a relief for some of Google Plus's early adopters, many of whom cited their preference for Google Plus over Facebook, as the former is a Farmville-free zone, if you will.

Of course, Facebook users do have the option to hide the updates that come from their friends' gaming habits. You can remove updates from individual games from your feed entirely or, of course, you can opt to just hide those friends whose Facebook activities seem to be solely comprised of casual gaming. But this option isn't obvious to everyone, and many users still complain of these sorts of messages overwhelming their News Feed. By opting to create a separate stream for game-related updates, Google Plus may make this less of an issue for its users.

The News Feed and Games' Viral Spread

But the flood of gaming updates contributed to the viral spread of many games on Facebook (and in turn, helped Facebook itself become one of the Web's most popular destinations). Without that easy virality of the News Feed "spam" on Google Plus, game developers may find it more challenging to woo new players.

But the lack of immediate viral channels isn't necessarily a bad thing for game developers, and it could be an opportunity to rethink some of the mechanics of social gaming that have become intertwined with Facebook. Perhaps we'll see new types of games developed for Google Plus. Or perhaps we'll see many of the same games, simply ported over to a new social destination.

Bringing Game Developers to Google Plus

One thing that might woo game developers to Google Plus would be better financial rewards for them. According to AllThingsD's Tricia Duryee, Google may be planning to offer game developers a better deal than Facebook does, taking a smaller cut than the 30% of revenues that's been the industry standard. As she notes, Google just launched an in-apps payment option this week, a key piece that's now in place for developers to be able to monetize their Web apps.

There's no official word from Google on a launch of a Games feature for Google Plus, but many signs are pointing to a feature that would be quite different from that of Facebook's. The balancing act for Google Plus will be to have the Games help make the site a destination for people to return regularly while not chasing away those users who find the absence of casual gaming a welcome relief.

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What is Google+ (Google Plus) and do I need it?

Google Plus is Google's new social network. But why start a Google Plus account when you already have a Facebook account? Well, Facebook was developed on the premise that everyone is your "friend" which isn't how your social circles work in real life. Google plus is built so that you can intuitively break up all your connections into "circles" and treat each circle separately. (Facebook allows you to do some of the same things but the privacy settings are confusing and constantly changing.) 

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A button of Google most used by larger sites than twitter

The button is one of Google already released on the 10 000 largest websites in the world than

 Twitter (tweet button), depending on what reports a study of the agency SEO BrightEdge.

-Twitter: 2.1% of the top 10 000 using the button tweet 1.3% and the "now follow."

- Google 1: 4.5% of sites (ie twice twitter)

- Like Facebook: 10.8% of sites are using the 6.1% who likebox, 1.9% and 1.2% facebook connect facebook recommendations.

As against more presence on the websites for Google as a tweet from Twitter does not mean that it is no longer used. Just look at most tech blogs (including mine) to see that retweets are much more numerous than one. (It will be interesting to re-check these figures in a few months)

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+1 button errors

If the +1 button is unavailable or has stopped working, you'll see this image: 

A +1 button error can occur for a variety of reasons, including the following:

• Server timeout: Check your Internet connection and try refreshing the page.
• Blocked profile: If your profile has been blocked, you won't be able to +1 content.
• Apps user: Check with your domain administrator to see if Google Profiles is enabled.
• Blocked cookies: If you've disabled 3rd party cookies in your browser you won't be able to use the +1 button

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Analysis shows 10 Million Google Plus Users Could Double by this Weekend

Google is staying quiet about the number of current G+ users, but that doesn't stop other people from conducting their own research. Paul Allen, Founder of Ancestry.com has taken it upon himself to do a "surname-based analysis" that he claims will "accurately estimate" the number of users on G+.

By comparing a sample of 100-200 surnames to US Census Bureau data — he is able to estimate the total percentage of people that have signed up for G+ in the U.S. Essentially, he is comparing the last names of users in Google Plus to the last names in the US Census data he acquired.

Allen says he's aware that his calculations may not be perfect, and says that if he had the resources to obtain more information — he could develop a better model. One weakness in the current model is his ratio of US users compared to non-US users. Currently, it is 1:2.12 and has not been updated since July 4th. We all know that Google opened up the ability to invite again, so this could be off quite a lot.

Paul says that on July 4th his user estimates showed 1.7 million. On July 10th he updated and said there had been a 350% increase of users — making the new estimate 7.3 million.

The latest number is estimated to be 10 million users (as of Monday) and is projected to double that by the weekend. I'd love to see how close these estimates are, once Google releases some real numbers.

Personally, I'd love to see what type of of trends are developing from users who have a Facebook, Twitter, and a G+ account. Are there more users who just use Twitter, or are we seeing Facebook users enjoying G+? Also, how many are using the mobile apps? I'm sure these questions will be answered soon.

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Google suspend l'envoi d'invitations à sa plate-forme Google+

par Alexei Oreskovic

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Google a suspendu le processus d'adhésion par invitations à son nouveau réseau social, Google Plus, moins de 48 heures après le lancement de la version test de ce que le géant d'internet présente comme le centre nerveux de ses services en ligne.

Vic Gundotra, vice-président de la division Engineering de Google, a déclaré que l'entreprise avait été contrainte de "stopper le système d'invitations" pour le service pour la nuit, selon une note qu'il a publiée sur Google Plus mercredi soir.

"La demande est insensée. Nous devons avancer avec précaution, tout en gardant le contrôle", écrivait-il.

Un porte-parole de Google n'a pas détaillé les raisons qui ont dicté cette décision et n'a souhaité dire quand Google reprendrait le processus d'invitations.

"Nous avons lancé Google+ en mode test pour évaluer le produit et d'obtenir le plus de retour d'impressions (des utilisateurs)", a déclaré la société dans un communiqué par courriel.

"Dans ce cadre, nous pouvons ouvrir ou fermer Google+ à de nouveaux utilisateurs à n'importe quel moment. Nous sommes ravis du nombre de personnes qui souhaitent tester cette nouvelle approche du partage en ligne".

L'interface de Google+ ressemble beaucoup à celle de Facebook, avec des photos de profils et un "fil d'actualités" formant une colonne centrale. Cependant, les contacts sont regroupés dans des "cercles" d'amis organisés par l'utilisateur.

Celui-ci peut ensuite partager des vidéos, photos ou d'autres informations avec l'intégralité de ses contacts ou avec un ou plusieurs cercles d'amis, comme les membres de sa famille, ses collègues ou ses anciens camarades de classe par exemple.

Le lancement de ce nouveau service de Google, symbole fort de sa volonté d'en découdre avec le numéro un des réseaux sociaux, Facebook, fait suite aux précédentes tentatives avortées de Google d'entrer sur le marché des réseaux sociaux avec des produits tels que Google Buzz et Google Wave.

Mathilde Gardin, Patrice Mancino pour le service français, édité par Nicolas Delame

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