After all the fanfare that accompanied the launch of Google+, it is worth seeing whether Google’s new site is really keeping its promise of transforming the way people use social media, or whether it is just a pie in the sky, or even more likely, an idea engine for Facebook developers. The numbers tell at least part of the story.
No one expected Google+ to have as many members as Facebook now has. That takes time, so saying that Facebook has 750 million users, while Google+ has only about 25 million isn’t really much of an indicator—unless, of course, it matters that Google+ is just 3 percent the size of Facebook.
The real question is what do those 25 million people actually do on Google+. Apparently, not a lot. According to the web app firm 89n, public posts on Google+ have decreased by 41 percent over the past two months. TechCrunch points out that Google+ data does not cover private postings (though 89n says that anecdotal evidence suggests that these are declining as well), and that 89n is hardly a research firm, this can hardly be considered hard evidence of the kind needed to convict Casey Anthony. Perhaps there is another gauge.
There is, in the person of Larry Page. According to Paul McNamara of Buzzblog, Page was once one of the most prolific users of Google+. It stands to reason. After all, he is the company’s CEO and the mover and shaker who added the + to Google. These days, says McNamara, Page is missing in action from Google+. His last public post was on August 15. “What’s up with that?” he asks. “Google+ and social networking are considered critical to the company’s future, and there are already whispers about waning interest in some circles without the CEO creating at least the impression of having gone napping himself.”
Of course, Page may have decided to take his photos private. Perhaps social networking is not as social as it once was. Or perhaps there really is waning interest, after the initial hullaballoo. Circumstantial evidence seems to indicate that this is indeed the case.
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