On June 28th, Google launched their new social networking site, Google Plus. The release instantly grabbed the attention of the tech world, and flooded the blogosphere with all sorts of posts, articles, and videos. The common question has been: “Can Google Plus compete with Facebook and Twitter?” The data analytics team here at Chitika decided to conduct a research study looking at an early indication of growth, and searches. We also wanted to how Google Plus would fare amongst the heavy hitters of social networking.
To get a picture of Google Plus in its first two weeks out of the blocks, we analyzed nearly 100 million search queries. Chitika Insights looked at searches for four sites, Google Plus, Facebook, Twitter, and MySpace, to calculate what percentage of the total daily searches were made for each site. Between the 3rd and the 11th of July, the percentage of daily search queries for Facebook, Twitter and MySpace fluctuated while Google Plus rose sharply. The total increase in interest for Google Plus from July 3rd to July 11th was over 300%. The most notable rise occurred between the 5th and 6th of July, where the number of Google Plus searches jumped by over 100%. Other significant increases occurred between the 7th and 8th (45% increase) and between the 10th and 11th (75% increase.) By July 11th, Google Plus matched the daily percentage of MySpace, and will probably eclipse it over the next few days if the trend continues.
Though total searches for Google Plus are still well below Facebook and Twitter, its heady growth rate suggests that it could become a competitor to Facebook and Twitter within a year. According to entrepreneur, Paul Allen, Google Plus could reach 20 million users by this coming weekend. These estimates are justified by their 350% increase in users over the last week. This may seem like small change compared to Facebook’s enormous 750 million user base but in the business of social networking, it’s more about trends than numbers, and Google Plus is trendy. We’re excited to see how the social networking hierarchy will play out over the next few months, perhaps witnessing in Google Plus, a legitimate challenger to Facebook’s throne
Chitika Insights will continue to monitor Google Plus’ progress among other social networking sites. Stay tuned for more results.