The question on everyone’s mind has been will Google+ follow Google or Google Buzz in its growth trajectory. The average share that it occupies in our network has fallen to 0.0027%, approximately a third of its peak total traffic less than a few months after its much-hyped launch. As Chitika Insights reported last month, Google+ has many advantages over its competition in the social networking space such as its vastly distinct features compared to Facebook, a mountain of resources backing it as well as huge initial publicity. Perhaps, Google’s tight-fisted nature toward working with the tech community has contributed to the lack of increased usage in the service.
Chitika Insights examined a fortnight’s worth of the current data to compare Google+ usage to our network traffic. We found that the average usage as a share of our traffic of the social network is around 0.027%, much lower than the numbers for July. Our data is different from the work by Experian Hitwise because Chitika, Inc tracks traffic across the desktop and mobile online world. Moreover, the fate of Google+ is not sealed, yet. September has been kinder than August, given the recent uptick in usage from less than 0.02% to slightly higher than 0.003%.
In early August, Search Engine Journal asked whether Google+ was in jeopardy. Chitika Insights believe the Google management needs to ensure that the buzz around Google+ does not go the way of Google Buzz. What do you think about the recent albeit small uptick? Is it the start of a sustained competitor to Facebook or just a mirage?
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