Google launched its Google+ social networking service about 18 months ago and today the company is offering up some updated, and slightly confusing, stats about the number of Google+ users.
Google"s official blog reports:
Today Google+ is the fastest-growing network thingy ever. More than 500 million people have upgraded, 235 million are active across Google (+1"ing apps in Google Play, hanging out in Gmail, connecting with friends in Search...), and 135 million are active in just the stream.
Yes, Google actually said "thingy". The important number to keep in mind is "135 million". That"s the amount of Google+ users that are actually active in Google+ itself, rather than just connecting to Google+ via other services from the company. By contrast, Facebook announced in October that it now has over one billion active monthly users.
Google also took the time to introduce a new Google+ feature. It"s the service"s version of groups, Google+ Communities. It allows users to join or create new groups with their favorite topics and chat with other members who share their interests.
Google"s blog also announced that it has launched the Snapseed app to Android devices. This photo enhancer app was previously released for iOS and Google later acquired the app"s developer Nik Software. Snapseed is now free to download for iOS and Android.
Source: Google