If Google's Really Proud Of Google+, It Should Share Some Real User Figures
Google+ now has 170 million users. Well, 170 million who have “upgraded” to Google+, whatever that means. It's the latest in crazy numbers from Google. The people who actually do use Google+ as a social network deserve better than this PR spin.
Context & Ripple Effects
Google's user-count announcements for Google+ have been accelerating all year — from the 10 million mark projected last July, through the 62 million milestone announced in December, to today's 170 million figure dropped alongside Q1 earnings. What changed with this round is not the number but its definition: Google now counts people who have "upgraded" to Google+, a term it has not clearly explained.
That definitional looseness lands on top of an already skeptical press cycle. The Wall Street Journal catalogued the mounting minuses at Google+ in February, and GigaOM argued in March that the product's problem is demand, not design. Today's pushback — picked up by CNET, Business Insider, parislemon and others on the same day — argues the inflated framing does a disservice to the people who genuinely use the network.
First-order effects
- Advertisers and media buyers weighing Google+ placements cannot distinguish upgraded accounts from active social users, making the 170 million figure unusable for reach planning until Google discloses engagement data.
Second-order effects
- Rival networks like Facebook feel no competitive pressure from a number built on bundled upgrades, so the contest shifts to who publishes credible active-user and engagement metrics rather than raw signup counts.
Third-order effects
- If platform-distributed signups become the standard way social products report scale, industry user figures drift toward distribution metrics, and pressure builds for third-party measurement or standardized engagement disclosure.
The trend: Social network user counts are decoupling from actual usage as platforms fold signups into other products, shifting scrutiny from headline numbers to engagement disclosure.