Google+ Poses A Real Threat to Facebook's Reign: Survey Says

Within a year, Google+ will be right below Facebook as the second largest social network, posing a real threat to the long-time social media king.

The growth of Google+ since its launch a month ago has been breathtaking. Swallowing up 20 million users in 3 weeks from the launch, Google's new social media site has now reportedly reached 2 5 million.

The research firm YouGov PLC conducted a new survey with Bloomberg, examining social media trends and usage of the past month among a thousand adults across the US.

"Google+ is starting off extremely strong. It's chipping away at engagement levels on Facebook and Twitter. With Google reporting 25 million accounts already and an estimated 16MM more US adults reporting that they plan to join over the coming year, Google+ can be a threat to both," said Michael Nardis, Head of YouGov Investment Products.

According to the survey, 13% of adult Internet users in the US have signed up for a Google+ account, while another 9% plans to join the network in the next 12 months.

The users have quickly adopted to the way Google lets them socialize, as data suggest the high engagement of Google+ users.

45% of users say they are reading content at least once a day, which seconds Facebook's 62% among social networks.

46% of Google+ users are actively updating and posting links at least once a week. This is on par with Twitter's 42%.

As Google+ attracts more users, Facebook will suffer negative impact. The survey suggests that 30% of Facebook users who are currently using Google+ plan on cutting down the time spent on Facebook.

With an estimated 16 million US adults in line to join Google+, the search engine giant is now expected to reach the second top social network in the U.S. within a year.

The demographics of Google+ users are more skewed than the mature social networks like Facebook and LinkedIn. Google+'s early adopters tend to be young, male and educated.

According to YouGov,

- 3 men for every 2 women (vs. 1 man for every 1.2 women on Facebook)

- 43% of membership is 18-29 (vs. 31% for Facebook)

- 59% has a college degree (vs. 37% for Facebook)

- 48% are Single (vs. 33% of Facebook users)

"Google+ is tracing a path similar to Facebook's initial growth - building excitement in a core group of early adopters. For Facebook, it was college students. For Google+, that path is young, educated, single men who are heavy internet users," said Nardis.

Rolled out on June 29, Google+ reportedly peaked at .007% of total web traffic on July 20th.

Having started as an invitation-only service, Google+ has now given each of its users 150 invites to share the fun - and draw closer to threatening Facebook's throne, faster.

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