Google’s latest foray into social networking, Google+, has been received well with estimates that the number of registered users already crossing 10 million within two weeks of its launch.
The Telegraph reported that Ancestry.com founder Paul Allen has estimated that Google+ is probably is very close to or has already crossed the 10 million members mark.
Allen wrote in a post on Google+, "By using a sample of 100-200 surnames, I am able to accurately estimate the total percentage of the US population that has signed up for Google+. Then I use that number and a calculated ratio of US to non-US users to generate my worldwide estimates."
Google has a low market share in the social networking market. The search engine company has tried twice before to make a foray into the social networking category.
It launched Google Buzz in February 2010 and Orkut social network in 2004. But Buzz had to be withdrawn after privacy complaints from users, while Orkut failed to attract users in the important UK and US markets. After that the company had not released any new social networking service or revamp the existing ones.
This year, in March, Google’s Eric Schmidt admitted that the search engine company had missed out on the social networking opportunity.
He said, "Four years ago, I wrote memos and I did nothing about those…CEOs should take responsibility. I screwed up."
Google+ is the most ambitious move into social networking since co-founder Larry Page took over as chief executive of Google in April.
Google launched Google+ in the last week of June. It promises users of privacy not present in other social networking sites.
Announcing the launch of the new networking service, Google had said in a blog post, "You and over a billion others trust Google, and we don’t take this lightly. In fact we’ve focused on the user for over a decade: liberating data, working for an open Internet, and respecting people’s freedom to be who they want to be."
"We realise, however, that Google+ is a different kind of project, requiring a different kind of focus — on you. That’s why we’re giving you more ways to stay private or go public; more meaningful choices around your friends and your data; and more ways to let us know how we’re doing. All across Google."
Google had withdrawn the invite feature in Google+ within 48 hours of launch. The company said that it had to do so in response to the "insane demand."
Microblogging site Twitter has over 300 million users, while chief rival Facebook revealed last week that it had 750 million users.
