A new Google+ study has revealed that the social network has received minimal social activity and features weak user engagement. According to Fast Company and their exclusive insights, Google+ is a virtual ghost town. But Google continues to argue otherwise.
Google continues to argue that Google+ has seen more than 170 million people upgrade to the social network. But insights are revealing otherwise. The study features a sample of 40,000 random Google+ users and the study analyzed every sample users’ public timeline, which contains all publicly available activity. The bottom line? “At the end of the day, Google+ simply does not show the same level of ravenous user adoption and engagement that we’ve seen in other social networks.” Here are some of the insights:
- The average post on Google+ has less than one +1, less than one reply, and less than one re-share
- Roughly 30% of users who make a public post never make a second one
- Even after making five public posts, there is a 15% chance that a user will not post publicly again
- Among users who make publicly viewable posts, there is an average of 12 days between each post
- After a member makes a public post, the average number of public posts they make in each subsequent month declines steadily, a trend that is not improving
“By only tracking engagement on public posts, this study is flawed and not an accurate representation of all the sharing and activity taking place on Google+. As we’ve said before, more sharing occurs privately to circles and individuals than publicly on Google+. The beauty of Google+ is that it allows you to share privately–you don’t have to publicly share your thoughts, photos or videos with the world,” Google stated. So who is right?
