Honeymoon over for Google+?

89n

By Athima Chansanchai

After a roaring start, Google+ has settled down, leaving some to wonder if this is just a pause in momentum or a sign that the fledgling social network has flamed out before it ever got hot.

TechCrunch's Robin Wauters raised this question, citing a blog post from 89n, which declared that blog posts on G+ have declined 41 percent over the past two months.

(Wauters has clearly gotten some heat from G+ fans, commenting in his update: "Nobody?s saying Google+ is dead, I?m simply asking if you find it to be true that public posting is declining, which 89n?s data suggests.")

Live Poll

Are you on Google+?

• 159833

  YES. It's working for me, and I spend more time here than Facebook.

  16%

• 159834

  YES. But it's lost its luster for me and I'll be heading back to Facebook.

  22%

• 159835

  NO. I'm happy in my Facebook, Twitter world.

  32%

• 159836

  NO. I avoid social networks like the plague.

  30%

VoteTotal Votes: 298

89n's data is based on information from 7,280 plussers who?use its ManageFlitter tool to integrate their Google+ account with their Twitter account. Using those numbers, public posts have gone down from 0.68 a day (between July 19 and August 19) to 0.40 a day (between August 19 and September 14).

Checking these accounts every 10 minutes for new public posts, they've documented 130,059 that have been posted in these accounts.

89n's theories about what's happening over at G+:

"...The drop in the number of posts is unlikely to be attributed to a difference to the change in the types of profiles integrating their Google+ account with ManageFlitter over time.

One possible explanation for this data is that the people integrating their Google+ accounts with ManageFlitter are all early adopter sorts that get bored once their new toys are not shiny anymore. However, this seems somewhat unlikely given the spread of Twitter followers across these accounts. It is also often the early adopters that drive long term adoption and to see a drop off now is not a good indication for the service's future."

But this doesn't take into account private posts, which, given how folks have taken to Circles, could provide a much different perspective on the health of the Google+.

When Google+ debuted?at the end of June, it flew out of the gate with more than 10 million?(within two weeks) clamoring?for?early?adopter status,?begging for the coveted invites like they were Willy Wonka?Golden Tickets. By August, it had climbed to 25 million, making it the fastest website to reach that audience size.

But?25 million is still only three percent of the?750 million?who are posting, reading and sharing on Facebook every day.?

Google got back to us and?would only confirm the 10 million?number as those?who have joined G+.?Google CEO Larry Page?reported in the July 14 earnings that one billion items are being shared and received in a single day on G+. As of August 24, G+'s "Like" equivalent, the +1 button, has appeared on more than a million sites, with over 4 billion daily views.

While it seems like G+ is adding on features every day, and evolving rapidly, it seems like Facebook is, too, to counter any insurgency that may come its way from G+, incorporating elements from Circles, for instance. Recently,?Facebook smartened up its lists, revamped its privacy settings on individual posts and photo tags and introduced a Subscribe button that allows users to follow famous folks and sort News Feeds according to?close, real friends vs. acquaintances.

More stories:

Check out Technolog on?Facebook, and on Twitter, follow?Athima Chansanchai, who is also trying to keep her head above water in the?Google+?stream.

Source: http://technolog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/09/16/7794573-honeymoon-over-for-google

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