During my online surfing journey I came across two remarkably interesting developments. 1: a publication of the latest figures around Google+ and 2: the launch of 'Google+ Communities'. I see a link and ask a question: did Google launch 'Google+ Communities' because there is still no one active (read: really active) on Google+?
Or has the number of Google+ users (read: people who automatically have a Google+ account forced down their list to data throats because they cannot avoid Google) increased so explosively that a lot of time and money has been invested in 'the next big thing' on this social planet?
'Communities' is a new part of Google+, so first let's look at the latest figures around this (according to Google itself) mega-spectacularly popular platform. More than 500 million people have a Google+ account, of which 235 million actively use Google+ features. These features include: giving a +1 to apps in Google Play, starting a Hangout in Gmail and connecting with friends via Google Search. 135 million users are only active in the Google+ stream.
A simple calculation (and a cursory glance at the website of the observant internet junkies of TheNextWeb ) provides us with a depressing percentage: only 27% use the platform as intended: socializing within the stream of Google+. Of course, Google+ is not a pure counterpart of Facebook (more of a social layer that is pasted over the entire sphere of influence of Google), but just so you know : Google's 'social network' has not exactly been adopted with love by the social majority.