Whether you’re a critic or a fanboy (or girl), there’s no denying that Google+ is growing at a record pace. Based on last weeks announcement that they hit the 90 million user mark, it looks like they’re set to hit 100 million users in no time!
You may have seen the infographic that compared how quickly Facebook, Twitter, and Google+ reached a user base of 25 million. It gave a great visual of just how quickly Google’s new social network grew in it’s initial launch compared to the other networks. But, we here at GPlusTuts have a new infographic for you:
Now that Google+ has passed 90 million users, I decided to create an infographic that showed the timeline of how long it took the major networks to reach 100 million users. Now, being that Google+ has yet to officially reach 100 million users, this can only be a projection of what could happen. However, I’m confident it will be pretty spot-on.
[click for larger image]
The data represented is merely an approximate representation of what I think will come to be. If Google ends up conquering the entire world, I hope they’ll remember that I predicted it, and in turn show me favor. 
On a more serious note, I understand that it is not a great comparison to make. Facebook was unknown when it started, and ended up changing the way the world uses the internet. Twitter was also non-existant in any form before it launched. Whereas Google was already an industry leader (in multiple industries at that). They already had a huge user base for their countless other projects. So, it’s true that we’re not exactly comparing apples to apples.
Still, it is fun to take a look at the timeline and speculate where things will go. I believe that Google+ will become the social networking industry leader. That is, unless Facebook or Twitter can in some way radically change the game.
Do you think Google will achieve world domination within 5 years? You can leave a comment by clicking here.
To all those who haven’t yet seen the light. join Google+ it’s revolutionary
I believe the relevant metric to look at would be daily active users (DAU). Slide and RockYou were some of the fastest growing companies when measured by registered users. Today they are shells of their former selves as they simply obtained registrations with no retention (like a spreading wildfire leaving charred remains in the core). It’s likely that DAUs are not being reported at Google because the retention rate is not particularly interesting.
One of Google’s many strengths is the ability to push products they build to hundreds of millions of eyeballs without marketing dollars. But because they have a built in audience of users who use their website to perform searches, you also have to discount the registrations they pick up from this behavior as the conversion rate into retained user is far lower than than for users who navigated to an independent site. Said another way, a user who signs up at Facebook is far more interested in using Facebook to network with friends vs. a curious user who happens to sign up for G+ because they saw a call to action at the top of their webpage while they were performing a search.
Much in the way that Facebook and Twitter can co-exist as they serve different purposes (to the chagrin of Facebook I’m sure), I believe Google+ does not need to complete with both of them, and will likely run into Twitter first. If Android can continue penetration and Google+ can be more tightly integrated, I think Google will have a fighting chance. Otherwise, I disagree with your notion that Google+ will achieve world domination in 5 years.
Tommy, you must have just missed the previous post that covered the announcement of their user base. In that, they released that 60% of users sign in daily, with 80% signing in weekly.
As far as your conclusion about discounting user behavior on Google+ over Facebook, I’m not sure that theory holds any real evidence. I have far more friends who signed up for Facebook and didn’t do anything with it for weeks, even months. They just signed up for it because everyone was telling them to. How is that more credible than someone answering a call to action on Google? I would say that a user answering a call to action is more inclined to explore than a user who was peer pressured into signing up for something.
And as for the Global domination… it was a joke.
it is useless to compare Google+ with Facebook and twitter in this context. Google+ is based on already a tech Giant that is Google. So comparison like this cant reveal the true power.
Still I think Google+ is doing much better!
Sorry I didnt read the whole article first. Actually the infographics usually stop me reading the entire article.!
Glad you re-read it!
Great job on visualizing the date here Dustin, loved this.
Thanks Greg!
Also to take into consideration Google+ was first a limited trial phase and invite only upon it’s launch, untill going public to anyone over 18 in late September 2011.
This is true.
Google is revolutionizing the way search results will work. Relevancy will have a whole new meaning.
Google+ business/brand page may eventually take the place of having websites on the internet because of the fact that Google+ will be such a potent and relevant factor in search results.
P.S. don’t know which URL you wanted in the field above so I put my business Google+ that Google+ says to use to communicate online (Otherwise my personal Google+ is https://plus.google.com/u/0/105637719825161859095/posts):
Per Google+
“This is a link to your page. Distribute everywhere you communicate online, to encourage people to add your page to their circles so your posts will appear in their stream.”
I went ahead and circled you Sean! BTW, I think you may find this post to be extremely helpful!
Very nice visual expression of this information. I do believe GooglePlus is the up and comer front runner.
this data do not reflect the amout of people really using the g+. according to data revealed shareholic, the g+ user rarely login into g+, once they get over of it. and the average new post for g+ is about 15 days, SO FB WINS