The Unpopularity of Google+ and Why It Still Matters
According to Google, its social network has about 500 million accounts. Nevertheless, the average Web user would probably say that Google+ isn’t nearly as popular as Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and some of the other major social networks out there. This sentiment appears to be backed up by anecdotes and statistics, which are shared in a recent Reuters story about Google+.
While companies like Fiat (a Hangout accompanying the launch of a new car) and Cadbury (a baking community page with 40,000 members) have found ways to leverage Google’s social network successfully, there are others that haven’t made much use of their Google+ pages. Domino’s, for instance, hasn’t updated its page since late October. McDonald’s hasn’t posted a single time on its page. According to Reuters, about 40 percent of the 100 most valuable global brands in 2012 with Google+ pages have never posted any content or post infrequently, while 17 of them haven’t posted to their Google+ page in more than a week.
Nevertheless, Google+ remains important because it’s a means to an end
