

Nobody Is Using Google+ - dredmorbius
http://uk.businessinsider.com/google-active-users-2015-1

======
dredmorbius
Data analyst / OP / Space Alien Cat here.

Methods:
[https://ello.co/dredmorbius/post/nAya9WqdemIoVuVWVOYQUQ](https://ello.co/dredmorbius/post/nAya9WqdemIoVuVWVOYQUQ)

(linked in the article)

Pastebin of the 4215 "active" profiles sampled for activity. In quotes as some
actually _aren 't_ though they passed my initial regex screen.

[http://pastebin.com/tmdcsKLZ](http://pastebin.com/tmdcsKLZ)

Source for the sitemaps is the G+ robots.txt file:

[https://plus.google.com/robots.txt](https://plus.google.com/robots.txt)

~~~
dredmorbius
I'd also strongly recommend for potential critics:

90-9-1 rule:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1%25_rule_(Internet_culture)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1%25_rule_\(Internet_culture\))
[http://www.nngroup.com/articles/participation-
inequality/](http://www.nngroup.com/articles/participation-inequality/)

Random sampling and error size:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Random_sample](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Random_sample)
[http://www.randomsampling.org/](http://www.randomsampling.org/)

An independent estimate for number of G+ profiles, team includes a present
Google Employee (per his G+ profile page). Validates my 2.2 billion number
(via Thomas E. Hanna on G+):

[http://plus.miernicki.com/](http://plus.miernicki.com/)

------
jordanpg
That G+ is likely to fizzle is much less interesting to me than why a company
with the might of Google was unable to make it work. I suspect that G+'s
seeming fate is not particularly surprising to anyone in the tech sector under
the age of 40 or so.

Social media technologies are about as remarkable as email accounts in the
year 2015. And switching to G+ is the social media equivalent of switching to
hotmail, at least in terms of public perception. And since public perception
means a lot in a world where you have about 30 seconds to change minds, the G+
ship sailed several years ago.

~~~
dredmorbius
_why a company with the might of Google was unable to make it work_

Social is hard. Really hard. I've mused on that rap a lot myself.

~~~
dougabug
I'm not sure why G+ should succeed. It's one of those, "Who ordered that?"
propositions. I don't understand, does Google want to be all things to all
people? I would rather that they brought self driving cars to commercial
fruition as soon as possible, rather than try to clone Facebook, Twitter,
Amazon or Apple's flagship products. Roll out Google Fiber everywhere, or at
least in the Bay Area. Give us something we really need rather than uninspired
versions of existing products. Total lack of focus.

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cheald
Doesn't it seem a little odd to qualify G+ usage by public data numbers? I get
that that it's what you have available, but if you used that method you'd
probably conclude that Facebook has a fraction of the users they actually do,
too.

I have no doubt that G+'s active usage numbers are weaker than Google would
like, but it seems like quite the chasmic leap to declare that nobody's using
it based on that.

~~~
dredmorbius
Drunks, keys, and streetlights: it's where the light is.

Yes, that's a weakness of the study (I'm the numbers guy), but it's also
what's available. It also allows for direct comparisons with other platforms
offering public posting. And in the face of a dearth of quantified metrics
from Google, offers a data point.

~~~
mmorett
And there's a reason why Google is hiding or manipulating their numbers.
They're poor. If they were good, you know darn well they'd be bragging about
them. So they play tricks and games to try to hide that data.

~~~
dredmorbius
Oh, quite.

------
Sarkie
So bloody what.

I use G+, I like G+, it does what I need, Google haven't messed with it too
much like FB does all the time.

Use whatever tool you like for the task.

What's with all these articles saying how no one is using G+, I assume they
think Google are going to shut it down? Why would they, they can target me and
create a profile around me....

Meh.

