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Some still contend that Google+ is a ghost town, a social playground largely devoid of active participants. Others, like Google's Senior Vice President Vic Gundotra, see Google+ as "the fastest-growing network thingy ever." Backing up his claim with numbers, Gundotra claims Google+ is home to 500 million people overall and 235 million active users who are +1ing apps, hanging out in Gmail, and connecting with friends in search. Some 135 million are active in just the stream, Vundotra says.
His comments are found in part of a blog post announcing new Google+ Communities, which is the sultan of search's equivalent to Facebook Groups.
"During the holidays we reconnect with loved ones and rediscover what makes us tick," Vundotra says. "And it's times like these that remind me why we started Google+ in the first place: to make online sharing as meaningful as the real thing. Too often our online tools miss the subtlety and substance of real-world interactions, and Google+ aims to fix this. Fortunately we've got a vibrant community to guide us."
Communities range from photography to astronomy and everything in between, including "things that are waaay out there." Membership to these Communities can be public or private, and can be shared with the +1 button across the web.
If you want to see for yourself, you can click on the new Communities icon that's rolling out today, and then create your own or join an existing one. As currently implemented, the Communities feature is just a preview, and there's no mobile version, though that's coming soon, Gundotra says.
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Comments are closed on this article
chrisv815
December 08, 2012 at 9:36am
I loved google, been using android forever. hate +1, noone uses it. I'm actually considering changing phones over play store reviews, since you won't be able to trust them now that they force you to sign on with +1 I beleive a lot of people will skip reviewing.
mh15216
December 07, 2012 at 5:20am
Yea... I'm apparently a Google+ user because my work uses gmail, and while I really enjoy Gchat, it qualifies me as a user of Google+. I don't think I've developed my Google+ account for I dunno.... ever? Skewing the numbers to justify having a job much?
Paul_Lilly
December 06, 2012 at 12:18pm
Those were a Christmas or birthday gift (I forget which) a couple years ago. I don't wear contacts (or glasses), but really wanted a pair of these. The best part was freaking out a fast food clerk who I convinced that they were my real eyes. She's probably still telling stories about the guy who came in with cat eyes.
bloodhawke83
December 06, 2012 at 11:17am
Google is forcing people to use it, you can no longer give review on the android market anymore without joining google+.
vrmlbasic
December 06, 2012 at 3:39pm
Ugh. Guess I won't be giving reviews. That sort of coercion is the only reason I'd be on google+ as no one I know uses it for any other reason (so the "social" aspect of their social network doesn't exist for me), they're all on it because their university or some web service forces them to be.
tomrippity
December 07, 2012 at 8:33am
I'm on it because a lot of colleagues and friends with similar interest use it to share information. I appreciate that it isn't filled with then normal garbage that clouds Facebook.
In short, G+ is HIGHLY social. People are just more selective about what they share.
tomrippity
December 06, 2012 at 12:29pm
point being? There are literally hundreds of services online that require facebook logins. Many people only have Facebook so they can play Farmville or whatever other stupid game is popular at the moment.
Do you think Facebooks 1B users (supposedly) are all sharing in the stream? No way. I have friends that pretty much use it as a source of single sign on for web services.. meaning they never actually visit the facebook site, they just use it to login on other sites.
This is no different than Google taking advantage of its applications and counting those users as part of the G+ community, which they are, because almost all of Google's products are integrated with each other in one way or another.
tomrippity
December 07, 2012 at 8:30am
Then don't leave a review :P
I understand that point completely, but I appreciate the value that it adds to Google+ and Google's other products. I'm not really afraid of leaving my real name on reviews and it "should" add credit to whatever comments I make. Some anonymous screen name has 0 credibility.
No one ever said that G+, Android, or the Google ecosystem was for everyone.
