KARACHI:
Reminiscent of the mass exodus from Orkut to Facebook, Pakistan’s internet population may again be shifting platforms following the birth of Google Plus.
A significant amount of people are making accounts on Google Plus, which is the giant search engine’s answer to Mark Zuckerberg’s social networking website.
Pakistan ranks among the top 10 countries on Google Plus even though the social networking site is in field test (beta) mode, according to findpeopleonplus.com. These statistics were released earlier this week on a sampling of 947,996 Google plus users.
Google’s country representative Badar Khusnood while talking to The Express Tribune said that it reminded him of the Orkut days. The main thing determining the success of a social network is its opening days, he added. “It’s all about the initial momentum, if your friends have already moved there, the incentive for you to do as well increases.”
It took Badar three years to get 4,500 people on his Facebook friend list, but only a few days to reach half of that number on Google Plus. “I already have almost 2,500 in the few days that Google Plus has been active,” said Badar.
Numbers from Experian Hitwise showed that Google Plus last week had about 1.8 million visits in the US while Facebook had over ten times that. Observers say that these numbers are more than what Facebook had when it was launched initially. Although, analysts point out that this may just be the case because people were not that fond of social networks back then.
According to the statistics available on findpeopleonplus.com, most of the international community that is joining Google Plus is IT professionals, writers or media marketing professionals. A survey carried out by The Express Tribune shows that the trend is very like to be the case in Pakistan as well.
Google is leveraging its search engine, Yahoo, Gmail and the rest of its ecosystem of webservices and making this social network as the focal point of them in a bold attempt to takeover Facebook’s throne as the largest social networking platform.
Published in The Express Tribune, July 22nd, 2011.
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niceeeeeeeeeeeeeee anything than takes down spy islamophobic fb guys also checkout the SN by muslims with over half million members millatfacebook dot com
Google+ has a neat user interface, Circles are an awesome way to stay more secure and share with your friends and family. I am sure Google will innovate and seamlessly integrate its already awesome services like Gmail, YouTube, calendar, reader, voice, docs, blogger, maps, translate etc into Google+. Imagine having a Google search for content you posted a year back, instead of scrolling miles like we do on facebook. I hope and wish many people join and share on Google+ because in the end its only a serious competition that will force both G+ and FB to innovate better and faster.
I have accounts on both sites: Facebook and Google+
I'm used to Facebook and comfortable with it, but Google+ is not totally bad, it has its own experience and approach to social networking, it's more user friendly than Facebook in my opinion, and can also allow you to separate friends which you want to connect with frequently, or just whom you follow like your fans for example.
Facebook has the app function with groups addition as well, but Google will probably roll out something similar. I'll be happy and stick to Facebook for now, but only time will tell if Google will make it good enough to make me to a permanent switch.
Since when did Yahoo became part of Google? Correction required. Google does become boring after a few minutes because it is in Beta testing. In some time it will come out of Beta testing and businesses will get the opportunity to create Business accounts on Google Plus. A lot more coming in some time once Beta ends. We also have to see that the quality of the people you follow also impacts your use. Following celebrities like Tom Anderson, Scoble and many more will make your Google Plus experience worthwhile since you can directly interact with people you want to. From Pakistan you have got Badar Khorsheed (Google Pakistan) himself as well as Rabia Garib (CIO Pakistan), Jehan Ara (P@SHA), Atta (Propakistani), Awab Alvi (Teeth Maestro), J Haque (Express Tribune) and many more with whom you can interact directly. It's fun if you know what you are looking for and it is DIFFERENT from Facebook. Don't expect to find a Wall to type 'Hi' or stalk around like you do on Facebook. It isn't just a Social Network, it is a Sharing Network and the amount of data being shared in initial moments on Google+ is simply stunning. I do however think that it is NOT Facebook killer the way Facebook brought down supremacy of MySpace and Orkut. People who are not so tech-savvy will prefer to stay on Facebook since they find it simpler and more appealing. It all depends upon once own choice.
Google is fast. So are all its products. Since last week or so I am constantly getting invites from my friends across the world. And I am sure Facebook will face a tough time. Google is smart.
Initially there is definitely a hype but people will stay eventually, why because Google is good at listening to its users, responding to it; quick at grasping the requirements, fast at upgrading the whole system if required & great at introducing innovative new ideas & products. G+ will also provide a competition that was lacking due to the too focused Twitter, almost obsolete Myspace & Orkut against the FB. So for us users its a win win situation.
yeah obviously right.. i have already migrated :D
Its new but its boring, joined it to find a single reason to switch from facebook but to me it seems a better version of orkut nothing else !!
everyone is joining cuz of the hype. little do they know that Plus gets boring after 2 minutes! they all mention how many people are signing up but they arent mentioning how long they stay on the site!
Last Paragraph, first line.
Google is leveraging its search engine, Yahoo, Gmail and the rest of its ecosystem of webservices and making this social network as the focal point of them in a bold attempt to takeover Facebook’s throne as the largest social networking platform.
Google's Yahoo???