Google+ on its way to #1?

Most of the world’s population uses the social network of Facebook. Facebook has more than a billion active users as of October 2012. Google+ and Twitter come in behind with both having about the same amount of users. Yet, Google plus has become the second largest social networking site. This surpasses Twitter but not by much.Google now owns the rights to YouTube and statistics show that even YouTube is above Twitter.

Photo Courtesy: Globalwebindex via ZDNET.com

With the new ownership, you now have to be connected with Google in order to have a YouTube account. The account is set up through Gmail, and without it you are not able to upload videos to YouTube, unless you had a preexisting account. The Social Times said, "Combined with Google+, 46 percent of the population is now actively using a Google product for social networking." The company has a large proportion of social media now in its grasp with the takeover of YouTube.

The argument is that the numbers are not accurate considering a person has to sign in to Google for any access of their networks.  . Many people believe that Google’s numbers are incorrect with the real amount of users for Google+ being less than what the facts are giving. The disagreements are about the services that Google offers, and when is it actually using Google+ and not just YouTube, or another Google product.

What is accurate?
 It boils down to what reason the account holder has for using the network. For many,  it’s a social platform to connect with friends and family, and then others use it for business. So therefore, would the account holder be using Google+, YouTube, or Hangouts?

Who is using Google+?
“Turns out the US, India and Brazil are leading the pack. Google Plus users are also more likely to be students, developers, engineers, designers, and photographers,” socialfresh.com stated. The map shows the locations of the top 4 million profiles on Google+.

                                                                             
Photo Courtesy: CircleCount via SocialFresh.com

I believe that Google+ is growing, quickly. Scalableintimacy.com also agrees and here is a small prediction of what they believe will happen in the future.

Photo Courtesy: miketrap via Scalableintimacy.com

I’m not exactly caught up on all of what Google has to offer but I am slowly using it more and more each day. At some point we might all be using Google+, but everyone still could be just as oblivious as they are now, and not even now they are using a Google product.

What are your opinions on the rising of Google+?

Meagan Lofton is an Agriculture Communications major at Tarleton State University and a TSMRI intern. You can follow her on Twitter as @Meagannnn10.