Google has been trying hard (really, really hard) to make it in the social media game, but internet users, according to a recent study from RJMetrics, just aren’t interested. Could it be that Google+, its latest endeavor, is a Facebook clone with the activity of modern-day Friendster? Or, are the search engine’s indirectly in-your-face tactics, such as Search plus Your World, too much of a turnoff?
Although RJMetrics does not delve into the whys behind Google+’s lack of usage, its report indicates users, from a public standpoint, simply are not engaged. Google+ may have passed the 100 million user mark (this figure could be inflated, as users of other Google properties, such as Gmail, are forced into creating Google+ accounts), but posting, sharing, and +1-ing do not have the same frequency as similar features on Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter. Internet users, in fact, spend more minutes on Myspace than on Google+, according to a February 2012 comScore report.
So, by examining a random sample of 40,000 users, what did RJMetrics find?
• A public post on Google+ receives less than one +1, reply, or re-share. Specifically, a post receives 0.77 +1s, 0.54 replies, and 0.17 re-shares.
• 30 percent of users who make one public post do not make a second one.
• Users, on average, make a post every 12 days.
• Over time, the time between public posts increases and does not improve with newer users.
To Google+’s credit, users will make a public post at least once. Typically, RJMetrics determined, users on most social media networks have a 90-percent chance of posting again; Google+, however, does not meet this mark. More specifically, users wait 15 days between their first and second posts, and 10 days between their fifth and sixth posts.
As RJMetrics points out, private sharing and posting are not taking into account, and taking this factor, if it were measurable, could skew results of incorporated into overall frequency figures. Nevertheless, when Google+’s public usage is compared to that of Twitter, Pinterest, and other growing channels, it falls drastically behind and shows that the No. 1 search engine has a long way to go before becoming an influential social media force and integral part of an offsite branding strategy.
















