DAILY REAL ESTATE NEWS | FRIDAY, JULY 22, 2011
In just three weeks since its launch, Google+ has boasted 20 million unique visitors worldwide--more than 5 million in the United States alone--which has many saying that it’s poised to be Facebook’s biggest competitor. Google Inc.’s new social networking site has particularly impressed observers since access to it is still by invitation only, which means a current member has to send you an invitation in order for you to join. Google hasn’t yet unleashed Google+ to its more than 1 billion monthly visitors who use its search engine, Gmail, and other services.
Still, analysts acknowledge that Google+ has a long way to go before reaching Facebook’s 750 million users and even Twitter’s 200 million, but many are expecting it to give steep competition to both.
"I've never seen anything grow this quickly," Andrew Lipsman, vice president of industry analysis at comScore, told The Wall Street Journal. While Twitter in 2009 was also able to capture as many new visitors, Lipsman said it happened over several months--not three weeks.
Google+ allows you to build a social “circle” of friends, easily separating out family and friends from work contacts, and then lets you share comments, articles, photos, and videos with your designated “circle” of friends or even the public. Google+ also boasts a “hangout” feature that lets you do video chats to several contacts simultaneously.
Google+ features will eventually be incorporated into services like YouTube and in Google’s suite of online software for businesses.
Source: “Google+ Pulls in 20 Million in 3 Weeks,” The Wall Street Journal (July 22, 2011)
