Users give Google Plus the big thumbs up in India

With 60 per cent of India's online audience logging on to social networks, according to online audience measurement and analytics platform ViziSense, the introduction of Google's latest social networking site, Google+, has made Facebook and Orkut users sit up and take notice.

With hundreds of Facebook users from India already on Google+, which has allowed select numbers of users from around the globe to test the site and is in a beta testing phase, the initial user reactions seem encouraging.

Google+ is the search engine giant's latest attempt to carve its place into the people-centric territory, where Facebook has a 54 per cent reach among the 100 million internet audience in India.

Twitter enjoys a four per cent market share.

"When Google launched Gmail seven years ago, people went crazy to get an invitation from peers. In every blog and every forum, people were requesting an invitation. Now, the same is happening with Google+. It's natural for people to get attracted to it, as it’s open only to a select few. It's becoming like status: Hey, I have a G+ account. Some are even selling G+ invites on eBay for $0.99," says Dhiraj Kapasi, a software tester in New Jersey, who joined Google+ last week.

Text: Business Standard

Images Courtesy: Google, AP and Reuters