Google Plus is quietly creeping into the mainstream. While many disparaged it as a flash and burn site, the social network is continuing to grow. It now has 400 million users and, according to Casey Newton of c|net, 100 million of those are active users. Compare that to Facebook’s latest numbers, 955 million users with 552 million active users.
If you take that Google Plus has half the users of Facebook or 20% of their active users, and you take the current valuation of Facebook at $46 billion, does that mean Google Plus is worth $10-20 billion?
Did Google just pull $10 billion out of hat?
Certainly something to consider, especially as the site becomes more important to the company. It has been integrated across all of their products, including YouTube and Gmail, adding a layer of social to every Google site. Something that can bring about unexpected innovations, for example, users can +1 apps for Android phones. A great way to siphon off the best Android apps and something I expect Apple craves.
In terms of numbers, Google said this social layer adds 50 million active users, bringing their total number to 150 million. And that makes Google Plus more important than most think. Indeed, Twitter only recently passed the 500 million user mark, with 170 million active users.
