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.

Be honest, do you really have a close relationship with the 500 or 1,000 people in your online social network? Probably not, but Facebook has, for some time now, been reminding you of each one's birthday (optionally), and then it's up to you whether you want to post a message or not. It's a pretty basic feature, and now it's available in Google+. You know, just in case you can't remember the dates for the three people in your circles who actually use the service (we kid, we kid...sort of).

Fair statement or not, the social networking scene consists of Facebook (the largest social playground in the solar system), Twitter (the most popular micro-blog around), and everyone else. That's how it's perceived, anyway, with Google+ viewed by many as not much more than a ghost town, a struggling afterthought that most people are familiar with, but nobody actually uses. If going by the numbers, that perception is wrong.

Google+ grew to over 90 million members in short order, and for the most part, it did it without the benefit of teenagers flocking from Facebook (not counting the ones who slipped through the cracks and were previously able to open an account). A change in policy now allows teens age 13 and over to join Google's social networking service, but will they find it fun enough to stick around?