“Partnership has been key to Google’s success as a rising tide lifts all boats. So we’re excited to announce a new way to help our clients succeed by working with Facebook to participate in FBX, their real-time bidding exchange”
DoubleClick’s Senior Product Manager Payam Shodjai, on Facebook’s decision to include Google’s Doubleclick in their FBX (Facebook Exchange) Cookie-driven Ad Platform
It’s finally happened folks!
Google+, the Social Network that Google launched in July 2011 some two (2) years ago now has some 500 million registered users and 343 million to 345 million active users since December 2012, according to web analytics firm GlobalWebIndex. Google+ is now the No. 2 Social Network and yes, another Graph makes that super clear! By comparison Facebook at their recent Earning Call for the Second Quarter of 2013 indicated that they have 1.15 billion active users and 819 million active mobile users.
All I can say is Wow! Google+ has been growing at a phenomenal rate of a rate of 33% per annum since the summer of 2012 and they’re only just getting started. All thanks mainly to their unethical strategy of favouring searches for posts on their Social Network through their OWN Google Search Engine as I’d predicted in Chrome 16 beats Firefox and IE8 –Mozilla going Mobile and Cloud OS on Smartphones, Tablets and UltraBoooks.
Not bad for an Engineering company that’s strong on Engineering but very weak on Social! Their Google Buzz failed to generate any and Google+ was very slow to get off the ground. But their rise has been spectacular and on the same level as Android OS for smartphones, which became popular in the Summer of 2010 and has moved on to become a Global hit ever since
Even Jamaicans, mainly Millennials (ages 18 to 28) are crazy over smartphones running Google Android as surmised in Blackberry popularity wanes as Jamaicans go smartphones – Android and Apple’s Smartphone Revolution. The same can be expected of Google +
Google has now revealed Google Android 4.4 as the first product placement Mobile Operating System in the World, dubbed aka KitKat as noted in Google Android 4.4 is now KitKat as Nestle-Google Secret Deal makes Android the first Product Placement OS
But it’s what the future holds for Facebook that must give them reason to fear this upstart in the Social Networking business! Google+ shares are currently growing at a rate of 19% per annum, compared to 10% by Facebook based on the stats of analyst Searchmetrics. They made some startling projections which predict that by May 2016:
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1,096 billion +1s per month will be generated by Google+
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849 billion shares per month will be generated by Facebook
Clearly even on the sharing front, Google is also experiencing serious growth that threatens Facebook’s Social Network Dominance. Google has also been making up rapid ground in the area of Social Logins, coming in at a solid No. 2 in this KPI (Key Performance Index) according to analyst Janrain. For the uninitiated, a Social Logins is where members of a Social Network will use their Social Networking Credentials to log into another website e.g. logging and registering with Bit.ly and Adf.ly.
According to Janrain, the Social Login Metrics make for some interesting reading:
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46% use Facebook
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34% use Google+
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7% use Yahoo
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6% use Twitter
The graph below illustrates this beautifully:
Personally I currently use Facebook to login and register for some services online instead of signing up all that information all over again. I can’t recall seeing Google+ as a Social Login for many service, but as I rarely use my Scotia VISA Debit Card, I can’t speak for every website online, many of which may be cozy-ing up to Google+,
But if their stats ring true, it’s an indication of the level of connectedness someone has to their Social Network if they’re opting to use Google+ to register for another service. Google+ thrives and makes headway in Social Logins, despite Facebook not allowing them to transfer social Credentials to set up a Google+ Account, suggesting that many people are getting tired of FB’s Privacy shenanigans and are slowly switching ranks and many website are already detecting the shift and integrating Google+ Social Login Capability!
But it also suggests something deeper. If Google+ is on the rise and really set to take over by 2016, it means that both Web and Mobile smartphones users like to use Google+ due to its deep integration of its Social Credentials that are already conveniently tied into accessing Google’s many services.
Throw in the fact that they have the No. 1 Trafficked Website, Google Search, as well as having the No. 1 Search Engine and the soon-to-be No. 1 Desktop and Mobile Browser, it’s not hard to see how they rose from obscurity to near superstardom. Even more intriguing but not so surprising, they did it in half the time that it took Facebook, who took approximately four (4) years to achieve this current milestone of 500 million registered users.
Facebook recognizes that Google+ is in their Rear-view mirror. Explains why they decided to ride on Google+ speeding comet by allowing Google ad unit DoubleClick to participate in FBX (Facebook Exchange), their Browser click-metrics platform that allows advertisers to place ads based on users Cookie based Browser activity. I won’t be surprised if Google+ later announces reciprocal Ad sharing as well as the ability to use Facebook’s Social Login Credentials to allow users to create Google+ Profiles.
After all, the rising tide of Mobile Computing is increasing the memberships of these various Social Networks and thus making them both rise. But clearly, if Facebook doesn’t get aggressive about its Mobile Strategy as I’d suggested in How to add Emoticons to your Facebook posts, then the Whitewalkers from Google+ will finish them off as Winter is Coming in 2016!