News of Google’s social networking play Google+ must have reached you already?
I am sure there are some questions you are wondering about. Even Larry Page and Vic Gundotra must be thinking about these questions right now.
1. Will it succeed?
Yes, looking at the initial response. Larry Page said on July 15th that Google+ already had more than 1o million users. This despite the service being in a limited field trial (a new word for beta).
Paul Allen shared this interesting graph and analysis which pegged Google+ user base at more than 18 million users earlier today.
Apart from this power users like Robert Scoble are becoming big fans of the service.
2. Will it beat Facebook in the social networking game?
Not in the short run. With 750 million + users Facebook leads with a wide margin. But Google+ may catch up given that Facebook’s growth in slowing in some markets, Google+ can catch up as early as 2012.
3. Do you like it?
Answer this question in comments. I am liking it, especially the clean interface and nifty drag and drop feature for creating circles.
4. Will it cross 100 million users in 2011?
18 million users already, in less than a month. Google+ already has a celebrity acquisition plan which will drive more users. Add to this the effect of black social bar that now appears on top of Google services like Gmail; it is likely that Google+ plus will cross 100 million users in 2011. Meanwhile Google should keep listening to the users and keep things simple and useful.
5. Are you on Google+ yet?
If not leave your email in comments and ask for an invite.