The facts about Google+ are oscillating quite a bit these days from good news to bad. Not long ago, there was nothing but good news about Google+, but now people are calling it a “ghost town.” At least, that is what MarketingLand and Umpf are saying about it, based on information and a graphic that are presented in an Umpf blog post. Umpf, an online PR firm, did a small study about whether Google+ was really as popular as some people, including Google, make it seem sometimes. According to their infographic, Google+ may have a large number of user accounts, but in other areas their numbers are not at all impressive.
In their infographic, Umpf states that while Facebook has over 901 million users, Google+ only has about 170 million. However, that’s still above LinkedIn and Twitter in user accounts. So why are people calling it an abandoned network? Well, Umpf answers that question with their explanation of the number of users likely to share content per every 100 million users. In first place came Twitter with 197.3, followed by Facebook with 41.8, and LinkedIn with 15.2. In last place came Google+, with the mediocre average number of 6. So, compared to other social networks, Google has almost no users that are likely to share posts or other content.
Sharing isn’t really the first clue to a successful, active network though. The key factor is user activity within the network. Umpf reported in their graphic that LinkedIn is 2.5 times more active than Google+, Facebook is 7 times more active, and Twitter is a whole 33 times more active than Google’s social network. Also, after breaking down the statistics into different news sectors, Google+ is in the lowest percentage of each category. So, not only are people not really using Google+, but people aren’t really talking about it much either, meaning that its performance isn’t much to talk about.
In a few sentences, Umpf blog writer Adrian Johnson pretty much sums up what people need to know about Google+
“There’s been many articles written about how good, bad and indifferent Google+ is. But our favourite debate is the ongoing It’s Really Popular Vs It’s A Ghost Town one. So what’s the truth? Our findings and infographic (see below) appear to suggest the latter: despite its large number of accounts, G+ is bottom of the list of social network users’ favoured channels.”
Google+ seemed like it would be a huge hit, but these numbers (all received as official stats from each network) show that it just is not what Google tries making it out to be. There will still be arguments that say G+ is a great network for businesses and advertisers to show interest in, but Umpf tells us that that has never been the case. In social media marketing, it’s important to know the truth behind the networks themselves, especially if they are made out to be something they aren’t.
