Facebook announced some major changes last week including significant modifications to its profile pages at the annual F8 Developers Conference. 
Just a few days before that announcement Google+ decided to open its doors to the general public. I don’t think that is a coincidence!
The conference and some of the changes were already publicly known and Google was well aware of the conference timing.
According to a survey being run on Mashable, 78% of users hate the new changes.
Users to Facebook who don’t like the changes are venting their anger by using the hashtag #newfacebook on Twitter when making their feelings felt in 140 character bursts. If you want to watch the comments fly by in the Twitter stream, then check it out… it makes interesting reading.
The timing is apparently working well for Google+ with Paul Allen estimating that the Google social networking has grown by 30% in just two days. Paul’s estimates of Google+ growth are based upon solid sampling methodologies that have proven to be very accurate in the past.
The Latest Google+ Numbers
These are Paul’s estimates of Google+ growth from a base of nearly 30 million early in September.
- September 9 – 28.7 million users
- September 23 – 43.4 million users
- September 21 -23 growth estimated at nearly 9 million in just 2 days
Google+ has already created new records with one of those being the fastest social network to reach 10 million users (much faster than either Facebook or Twitter)
The Newest Facebook Numbers
Despite the Facebook user protest at the changes (the majority of people don’t like change of any type in any part of their life) it appears that Facebook’s growth is not suffering.
At the conference Facebook mentioned two significant milestones.
- They now have passed 800 million users
- Facebook had set a new record with half a billion people logging onto Facebook.com in just one day!
These numbers are almost mind numbing and the computer power to process that data and usage and the pipes (links) to the Internet to support that traffic would make interesting reading.
So do you like the new Facebook changes? Have you become a new Google+ user?
More Reading
- Google+ Hits 25 Million Users in Less than One Month
- 50 Fascinating Facebook Facts and Figures
- 20 Stunning Social Media Statistics Plus Infographic
- 30 Terrific Twitter Facts and Figures
- 50 Awesome YouTube Facts and Figures
Image by entertailion
