It’s only been two weeks since the launch of Google+ , but already there are “millions” of users, according to chairman Eric Schmidt. Beyond that ballpark figure, Google has not disclosed any user or usage numbers.
But Ancestry.com founder Paul Allen has been publishing his own estimates of the growth of Google+ (on Google+ itself). His latest estimate is that Google+ will surpass 10 million users today, only two weeks after its launch. That estimate is up from 4.5 million on July 9 and 1.7 million on July 4. I’ve charted the growth above, with Allen’s numbers.
If these numbers are anywhere near accurate, Google+ could very well become the fastest growing product in the history of the Web. Then again, Google is simply turning on the product for the hundreds of millions of users it already has once they get an invite and sign up.
How did Allen calculate his user number? Leaning on his knowledge of demographics, he used a clever technique comparing a sample of a few hundred surnames from Google+ and comparing them to how representative those names are in the general population (based on U.S. Census Bureau data). He made some assumptions about the proportion of U.S. to international users and came up with his estimate. It’s unlikely that his estimate is completely accurate, but he should at lest be capturing the growth trajectory.
A Google project headed by Vic Gundotra and Bradley Horowitz, Google+ is designed to be the social extension of Google. Its features focus on making online sharing easy for users. “Circles,” think social circles, akin to Facebook’s lists “Sandbar,” a user-unifying toolbar “Sparks,” a search engine for sharing content between users “Messenger,” a group messaging app that allows users to share with certain “Circles” “Hangouts,” group video chatting designed to allow up to 10 users video chat at once Each Google+ user can replace his...
Paul Allen has founded several companies in the consumer content and social space. He was the Founder and CEO of Ancestry.com in 1997. He also launched MyFamily.com in 1998, which became the fastest growing community site of its time. After an initial stint as CEO, Allen focused on internet marketing and strategy for several years, helping Ancestry.com become one of the leading content subscription sites in the world. In 2002, Allen founded 10x Marketing, an internet marketing agency that...
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