66% rise in traffic on Google+ in past nine months

ComScore, a traffic analytics site, has revealed an increase in the traffic on Google’s attempt at a social networking service, Google+. The number of unique visitors to the social networking website has increased by 66 percent over the past nine months, according to ComScore, with an estimated 110.7 million international visitors in June. The traffic in the US  increased by an even greater 82 percent; from 15.2 million to 27.7 million visitors over the nine months.

According to ComScore, Facebook’s US figures from November to June have suffered a drop from 166 million to 159.8 million. Morten Myrstad, the PR consultant who shared the figures on Google+ points out that though Facebook’s lead has slightly dropped, the unique visitor numbers don’t take data such as how long users spend on the site and return visits, into account.

Myrstad posted, “In pure numbers, Google+ according to comScore grew from 66,7 million visitors worldwide last November to 110,7 million visitors in June. This is a growth of 66%. With 110,7 million unique visitors during a month, from desktops only, the comScore data also seem to confirm Google’s own published data: 250 million accounts, 150 million monthly users and 75 million daily users worldwide. According to the comScore data, 25% of the Google+ worldwide visitors in June came from the U.S., up from 22,8% in November last year”.

Traffic up by 66%

Earlier this year, there were reports that China had lifted its block on Google+. While it may not be appropriate to say that the block had been lifted in the country completely, several users in the country had reportedly started flooding US President Barack Obama’s re-election page on Google+ with messages such as, “Oppose censorship, oppose the Great Firewall of China!”. For those wondering about the meaning of the “Great Firewall of China”, the report explains, “Beijing’s blocking of websites and censoring of search results for politically sensitive terms is known colloquially as the “Great Firewall of China.” Self-censoring homegrown websites such as Sina Corp’s microblogging platform Weibo have filled the void left by the blocking of websites such as Facebook and Twitter.

China has been long known for its intolerance to websites such as Google, Facebook, and Twitter. Google, according to this report, revealed to have not done anything different to earn entry into the country. However, reports reveal that an executive from Google found an opening earlier this year. But what was an heavy inflow through that part of the week, slowed down by the end of it, revealing that the crack may have been closed. The report further added that, "Individuals in China normally need to use a virtual private network to access blocked sites, an added expense and trouble that limits the number of people who do so. But that was not before hundreds of people who said they were Chinese citizens had an opportunity to ask their U.S. counterparts about hallmarks of U.S. elections such as campaign bumper stickers".