Google+ is the second-largest social media platform in the world behind Facebook.
No, that headline is not a typo. Nor is it hyperbole. It’s a reality as of the fourth quarter of 2012, according to public data collected by the website GlobalWebIndex.net. The data collected ranks social media platforms based on active users, which the website defines as someone who used or contributed to a platform in the past month.
The data showed that while Twitter is the fastest-growing network with a 40-percent growth rate in six months, 25 percent of the global Internet population is now actively using Google+. YouTube and Twitter, which ranked third and fourth respectively, each claim 21 percent of Internet users. Facebook led the pack with a staggering 51 percent of global Internet users.
Even though it has a long way to go before getting close to Facebook numbers, Google+ is not the failure or flop many thought it was after its launch. In the past six months, the platform has grown 27 percent in terms of active users. The numbers are even more interesting when you consider that the third-ranked platform, YouTube, is under the same corporate umbrella.
This recent data shows just how successful Google has been with its integration of Google+. It may not have come as quickly as people thought, but it’s clearly growing steadily. Anything can happen when the biggest search engine in the world has your back, right?
Other notable platforms on the list: LinkedIn ranked 10th, Myspace (remember them?) ranked 14th, Pinterest ranked 16th and Tumblr ranked 19th.
It is also interesting to note that the five platforms ranked between Twitter and LinkedIn, the three ranked between LinkedIn and Myspace and the 17th-ranked platform are only available in China — an impressive nine in the top 17. Hypothetically, if those nine platforms combined to form one giant Chinese social media platform, it could give Facebook — not to mention Google+, Twitter, YouTube, etc. — a figurative run for its money.
[SOURCE: Global Web Index]
