Google+ Hits 40 Million Users

By Jeff Schapiro, Christian Post Reporter Friday, October 14, 2011

Google announced its third-quarter financial results on Thursday, revealing that, in addition to a financial quarter that exceeded expectations, the Google+ social network now has 40 million users.

The social networking site’s 40 million users is only a fraction of the 750 million people who use Facebook, but Google+ is only three months old. It now has 30 million more users than it did at the end of the second quarter, when the social network was still in the “limited” trial phase.

“Google+ is now open to everyone and we just passed the 40 million user mark. People are flocking into Google+ at an incredible rate and we are just getting started!" said Larry Page, CEO of Google.

There are a number of features Google+ has that make it unique among social networking sites. One example is the +Circles feature, which makes it easy for users to control which friends they share information with. Other services, like the +Hangout video chat and the +Sparks information feed are also attractive to internet users.

Page said 3.4 billion photos have been uploaded to the social networking site by Google+ users so far.

But Google+ is only a part of the company's success. In this past quarter, which ended Sept. 30, Google brought in $9.72 billion in revenue, surpassing 2010's third quarter results by 33 percent. The company's net income also grew from the year-ago period, from $2.17 billion to $2.73 billion.

Google's reported Earnings Per Share wound up exceeding expert estimates for the quarter. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters initially predicted Google would earn $8.74 per share, but in the release the company revealed earnings of $9.72 per share.

“We had a great quarter,” Page said.