Google+ Social Network Not Yet Reaching the Mainstream

Building a Facebook killer might be more difficult than people had thought. Google+ appears to have quickly lost its early momentum, according to data from data analytics firm Chitika reported by The Next Web. The social network got an initial spike in traffic that was short-lived: Just four days after its June 20 launch, traffic was back to launch-day levels.

The Next Web also offers some anecdotal evidence: "Our monthly referrals from there are down 38% since their peak, while Facebook referrals are up 67% and Twitter referrals up 51% over the same period."

This news comes a week after evidence that Google's +1 button, its version of the Facebook-like button that is posted on web sites, is not getting much traction outside of early adopters. Data compiled by tech blog The Sociable showed the +1 button was more common on social networking and tech sites but "news, sports, and search have yet to make a significant impact."

Perhaps people expected too much too soon from Google+. After all, eating into Facebook's dominance in social networking will take time and patience. And expectations were high when Google+ attracted 10 million users in less than one month. But it's telling that a Google engineer took to his Google+ page Tuesday evening to call his company's social network "a prime example of our complete failure to understand platforms" and "a knee-jerk reaction" to Facebook.

Bottom line: Facebook is still the king of social networks and will be for the foreseeable future. Plan your marketing campaigns accordingly.