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

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

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

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