Google+ is Coming on Strong, But is it the Next Facebook?

There’s a lot of talk around Google+, but is it the next Facebook? It’s really too early to say. Google+ became one month old yesterday and it already has a reported 20 million users. However activity has slowed down recently, but it’s still not available to everyone. So does Facebook have anything to worry about?

“With tens of millions of users and Google behind it, Google+ has become a major player,” Rob Enderle, an analyst with the Enderle Group, told Computerworld.

However, a report by Hitwise, an Internet traffic tracker, found that for the week ending July 23, Google+ had 1.79 million visits, down 3 percent from the week before. The report also noted that the average time spent on the site had fallen 10 percent that week to 5 minutes and 15 seconds.

I’ve been using Google Plus for a little over two weeks now and so far so good. I do notice that not all my colleagues, friends, and family are on the network yet, but that should change once Google opens it up to everyone. Even then, I don’t think Google+ will become as huge as Facebook, mainly because users have to have or open a Google account. I am not sure non-Google users will open an account just to check out Google+.

Twenty million members in one month is not bad for Google+, but Facebook is currently up to about 750 million members. Though Facebook would be dumb not to keep an eye on Google+.

“It’s very early to tell whether Google+ will appeal only to a group of insiders who like to use it a lot, which is the case with Twitter, or whether it will become a broad threat to Facebook,” Forrester Research Senior Vice President Josh Bernoff was quoted as saying by PC World.

I don’t think Facebook has anything to worry about because the masses will remain on Facebook and its membership will continue to increase worldwide. Google+ may very well be a success, but with Internet and social network savvy individuals.

But it really is too early to say. Let’s see how it all plays out. If you have any predictions about Google+ feel free to leave a comment below.