The Google+ 'ghost town': Social networking by the numbers

No one is spending much time on the search giant's new digital playground. Has Google+ officially failed?

Google launched its Google+ social network with much fanfare last year in an attempt to compete with industry behemoth Facebook. Today, Google+ boasts an impressive roster of tens of millions of members — most of whom are barely spending any time on the site, according to an embarrassing new report from comScore. Google+ is a "virtual ghost town," says Amir Efrati at The Wall Street Journal. The new statistics underline what an "uphill battle" Google faces in trying to slow Facebook's momentum. Here, a by-the-numbers look at the "mounting minuses" at Google+:

3 
Minutes that the average user spent on Google+ in January

405
Minutes that the average user spent on Facebook in January

89
Minutes that the average user spent on Pinterest, a hot new upstart social network

89
Minutes that the average user spent on Tumblr

17
Minutes that the average user spent on LinkedIn

8
Minutes that the average user spent on MySpace, the hoary social site of yesteryear

10 million
Google+ users in July 2011, mere weeks after the launch

40 million
Google+ users in October 2011

90 million
Google+ users in January 2012

400 million
Estimated Google+ users by December 2012

845 million
Facebook users

$202 billion
Google's market value

$75 billion to $100 billion
Facebook's target market value, following its much-anticipated IPO

Source: Google Finance, Mashable (2), The Wall Street Journal