

Google+ has more than a billion users - Aissen
http://plus.miernicki.com/

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Aissen
From the website:

 _How do we calculate the number of Google+ accounts?

Before November 15, 2012, we use the numbers Google provided publicly. Since
then, we began calculating the number on our own. To do this, we first
download the Google+ Sitemap. Then, we walk through this file and find all the
sub-sitemaps available. For each sub-sitemap we find, we download it and then
count the number of Google+ profiles and the number of Google profiles
contained within it. Tallying all this gives us two numbers: Google+ users and
Google users. We do this once a day.

However, the Google+ sitemap has been known to go down (404) periodically. It
was missing completely for almost two months from mid April 2013 until mid
June 2013. As such, you may see a sparsity of data points during such time
frames.

How do you count the size of the index?

This is a much simpler process. We simply perform a specific Google search
across Google+ and a slightly different Google search across Google+. We then
take the largest number of results returned from these two searches giving us
our Google+ index size._

From the author on G+:

 _It 's also entirely likely that a large percentage of the number I am
reporting here are G+ profiles created by users activating new Android devices
and never using the account for any activity_

[https://plus.google.com/112767041460502214504/posts/SjWJLWeZ...](https://plus.google.com/112767041460502214504/posts/SjWJLWeZ6tJ)

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sidcool
It's highly debatable as to who qualifies as a Google+ user. I want to believe
that G+ is doing good, because it is a good product. I regularly check it to
read articles on technology and programming.

~~~
NicoJuicy
G+ is less intrusive but most of the G+ users don't produce much (publicly)

~~~
sidcool
Very true. Except for a few like Robert Scoble, Richard Branson etc.

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nfoz
I'm at least four of them, and I've never wanted nor used G+. It's just force-
attached to other services.

