Since Google got into the social media business in a serious way with Google+, there have always been a few question marks on its ability to keep people hooked. Yes, it raced to 10 million users only in a couple of weeks and according to Paul Allen (the unofficial statistician of Google+) it has now more than 62 million users.
Allen claims that there are about over 625,000 users sign up on Google+ everyday. If the current rate is maintained then by the end of the 2012 it would reach 293 million users.
But the big prediction Allen makes is that Google+ will grow a lot faster and probably will reach 400 million users.
What could drive Google+ growth?
Google will continue to bring about more of Google+ into its other services like it did by introducing Google+ circles within Gmail. This makes people use Google+ or atleast give it a bit of a try.
Another factor that will drive Google+ growth is Android. Millions of Android phones get sold every month. These millions will probably end up using Google+ Apps on their phones. This will obviously drive more users.
I still think it has a long way to get people using it. Google+ has great privacy features, great apps, great design and more. But it lacks the critical mass of Facebook. For instance almost everyone we know is on Facebook.
Facebook was not the undisputed leader of social media until it hit 300 million users. That is when it really took off and it will be interesting to see if Google+ does the same if and when it reaches 300 million users.
What are your views? Do you think Google+ will manage to get to 400 million users by the end 2012? Do drop in your comments.